Know about Webkinz?  If you have a child, you probably do.  Both our 7 year old & now our 4 year old have become “Webkinz Collectors”.  While I am not a fan of these sorts of things, our children love it.  They name, care for and play with their Webkinz Pets.  Watching them show love for their pets is pretty cool.  The Webkinz site is pretty fun.  There are games, jobs & learning activities on there.  While some could argue about the true value of such things, that’s not my point.  What I find interesting, are some of the games you can play.  I admit I am not into video games.  Never liked them when pac-man was around but I could play some mean pong on Atari!  Anyway, one of the games on the Webkinz is called “Hungry Hog”.  The object?  You are to guide Pinky around the maze eating as much junk food as possible without getting ‘stung’ by the bees.  Getting  stung removes a “try”.  The game ends when you are out of “tries”.  The faster Pinky eats, the fatter Pinky becomes but that slows Pinky down and allows the bees a better chance of stinging Pinky.  However, the faster you eat, the more points you earn and the more levels you can beat.  What I find disappointing though is that…”Pinky hates vegetables” !!  Therefore, you need to avoid the vegetables.  You lose points if you eat a vegetable.  Although eating vegetables does allow for more junk food to appear and gives you the opportunity of getting additional points.  So, how do you fight off the bees?  Eat the “invincibility” pill.  The pill allows you to eat anything, bees included, without slowing down.  What’s the message to kids?  It’s bad enough they are sitting down playing a video game but to have a game that takes points away for eating vegetables is wrong.  Even worse is the “invincibility pill”.   That just reinforces the feeling that medication is needed to make us better instead of us making the changes in our lifestyles.  I get a bad feeling from that game.  I do not like the undertones.  There exists great potential on this web site to help educate children in a fun way on the benefits of proper nutrition.  It would be wonderful to see that game turned around and have Pinky love fruits and vegetables and run into problems when eating the junk food.  That would definitely send a different message to our children.  OK, you’ve sat at your computer long enough now.  Get up, get moving and make sure you eat some fresh fruits & vegetables today!! 

It’s Your Health.  It’s Your Life.  Make that change

~JohnСувенири