On BarbieGirls you can window shop to your heart's content. You can even try things on. But you can't buy a single virtual thing unless you cough up some real world cash for a VIP membership. Oh, and in case you didn't already know that, there is a sales attendant at the door of every store to remind you.
Sure those Posh Pets are ridiculously cute, but don't even think about adopting one unless you are a VIP. And as for all those Barbie coins you've racked up playing games and such in hopes of buying a digital pup, well, they won't do you a lick of good without a paid membership.
There are a few (basic and boring) games that are available to Barbie Girls with free accounts, but if you want access to the good stuff - like Jungle River Boogie - you need to be a VIP.
It seemed that everywhere I turned in this online Barbie world was someplace else that I couldn't go without a paid membership. If I were a real kid, it wouldn't have taken me five minutes to start nagging my parents to crack out their credit cards and let me become a BarbieGirls VIP.
Sparkle Coaster Place
Tail Shakin' Tree House
SHARON DUKE ESTROFF
Sharon
Duke Estroff is an award-winning educator and author of "Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah? (Random House,
2007). Her parenting articles appear in over 100 publications including
Parents, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day and the Jerusalem Post. Her popular Undercover Mom Blog on Net Family News
gives digital immigrant parents timely, straightforward advice on raising digital native kids.
