Kent Ninomiya - When it comes to computers, our children are generations ahead of us. Before they can read or write they are clicking a mouse. This is evidenced by the explosion in children's online virtual worlds. Barbie has a monster of a site with 10 million registered users gathered in less than a year. Think of the marketing possibilities. It's scary. Of course Disney wont be left out of this boom. Their Club Penguin and Webkinz sites are sucking in the kids. IBM and Zula USA are creating another one expected to launch this summer. So what is a parent to do? On one hand you want your children to be computer savvy. On the other you don't want to willingly expose them to the exploitation of the toy companies. It's a tricky balance. Kids want to play with toys that their friends play with so if their pals are on line they want to be as well. Also virtually all children's entertainment out there has a commercial component. If you want to keep them away from that stuff you need to shut them off from all popular culture. I guess the solution is balance. You may not be able to keep them out of the virtual world but you can make them live a majority of their time in the real world. Kent Ninomiya
