A Webkinz Tale of Woe....Almost

Let this tale of woe serve as a warning to all of you in Webkinz World!

MOTS (Mouth of the South) discovered that she could change her Webkinz password at will. So she did. Whenever she felt like it she changed her password. I had to make a hard and fast rule that she could NOT change Hollywood's password. She was disappointed, but she complied.

While I was in the kitchen I hear from the computer, "Mommy, I changed my password again!" I asked what she had changed it to and she told me that to make it easier to remember that she had made her password the same as her screen name. Oops!

I explained what a bad idea that was and asked her to change it back. She came in a little later to tell me that she had changed it to a new password! I just shook my head and told her that I didn't think it was a good idea to change password's unless you have to. She smiled and headed off to play.

A couple of hours later I hear a wail from the computer and much gnashing of teeth. Uh-oh.

"Mommy, I typed in my new password but it won't work!"

So I tried on my computer. No luck. Should be a simple fix for this, right? Yeah.

Webkinz has a plan for just this kind of thing. You just enter your screen name and the code from one of your animals. Simple, right? For a family that leaves the code tags where they belong maybe. But not this family.

So, I had the unhappy task of explaining to MOTS that she may have just lost her account and that very likely she would have to create a new account when she got a new Webkinz. This was especially heartbreaking since to get one she would either have to spend her own money or wait until Christmas! The horror! The tears! The wailing!

And then, what to my wondering eyes should appear but one lonely Kinz Tag. On the floor. Under a bag. But! Would this tag allow access to MOTS account, or was it a tag from Hollywood's account? The suspense.

We tried and, much to MOTS delight, were granted access to her account. I kindly fixed her password and we all learned an important lesson. Never change your password unless you have to.

And the Webkinz all lived happily ever after.

P.S. Please disregard my advice to never change your password if in fact your local IT guy has advised you otherwise. Thanks!

P.P.S. Webkinz World is the online world where you can play games and do things with the e-version of your real life stuffed animals! It's fun and only slightly addicting. You don't even know how close I have come to buying my own Webkinz. The shame.