Is anyone familiar with Club Penguin? My ten year old son plays on it and it seems cute. Several of school friends play. He has asked us to buy a 1 year membership - which seems pricey for what you get. I am most concerned about the safety of online games. Thanks very much!
After I read the responses here, we talked about it and are going to try it for one month. Of course my son is happy and thinks this is the greatest game now that he is an official member. I am relieved to have had so many positive responses to my question. Thanks to everyone who responded- your responses definitely influenced my decision!
Hi S.,
My two children, aged 11 and 12, love to play Club Penguin. We bought a year membership and they have gotten so much use out of it. I have found it to be very safe and entertaining. It's good, clean fun!
Leanne
My sister pays for my sons membership. He enjoys the site. I don't have any complaints against it. My son is almost 9. I let him join when he was 7.
My little girl loves this website. I think it's a great and it's pretty safe. The bad thing about it is that it's so addictive. She will stay on there all day if I let her. I always buy the one month subscription. BUt, you have to make sure you cancel it on your credit card because the next month they will charge you again. My husband bought her some Club Penguin gift cards from Toys R us for Christmas. I think those were great.
My baby sister, who is 8 almost 9, is on Club Penguin and has been for almost a year. My stepmom asked me to look into it and I found it quite safe. She started with a free account and then was upgraded to the one year membership once my stepmom felt comfortable with it.
My 11 year old son is on it alot, but he has never asked me about buying a membership?? I thought it was just a free place to go. They learned about it at school. It's one of the few places that the school has approved them to go during free time, so it must be OK>
Club Penguin is probably one of the safest online communities for kids. My 5 year old has been playing it for a year. His older cousins all played and he would call them and then they would get on the same server and play together from their homes. The on-line conversations typically consist of phrases pulled from a drop-down box or post cards that are (again) pre-made. This makes it so predators can't write in their own messages. We had a 3 month subscription and my son loved it! But when it ran out, everything he had earned and purchased for his igloo suddenly vanished and he was crushed. I suggest letting your son set up a free Club Penguin account to see if he really likes it. You can play for free eternally, but your penguin just can't purchase all of the things that you can with a subscription. You can still get a "puffle" (a cute fuzzy little pet that needs to be fed and exercised) and get a few things for your penguin and play all of the games and accumulate coins. If you decide that he enjoys it enough to get a subscription, the coins he has already earned will carry over.
My 9 year old son and his friends play on it too but only once in awhile now. We did a short term membership - I don't think I did the one year one. But my older son plays on Runescape and I thought it was fair to let each one of them to have a membership so we did it. Club Penguin is very safe and he probably won't be playing on it many more years as it seems to be for the younger kids so if you are just worried about safety - Club Penguin, I believe, is very safe and my son has fun playing it. I do take the money out of his allowance every month though!
My son and I both play and my 5 yr old plays. I have my 5 yr old set up on the high security plan. She cannot chat with anything other than the pre-programmed sayings. We all play the "free version".
As for paying for a membership, you can go to Walmart and get 1 month membership cards for $5. Get him one of those so that he can try it out. That way if he gets tired of the game you are not paying for something that he is no longer using.
SAHM of three: 19,18,and 5. Home Baker and Candy maker (see member perks). Married to the same wonderful man for almost 12 years.
I would stick to the free version...also, there is a safe site that you might divert his attention to, called poptropica. I do after school care at a conservative school, and all the kids just LOVE it...and it's free.
Dear S.:
My daughter played on Club Penguin when she was your son's age. She had a good experience. This is a very safe game. The worst we dealt with was one child being a little rude. Overall it was online playing with training wheels.
I would recommend no more than a six month membership, though. My daughter was losing interest at the end of six months.
L. F., mom of a 13-year-old daughter
My 10 year old daughter likes to play on there too. We haven't paid for a membership though, and I don't think we will, just not into the paying for something you can do for free. She also has a stuffed penguin and a puffle, they came with tokens she could buy stuff with for the one online, and she seemed satisfied with that. It's a pretty cute little site and her 5 year old twin brother and sister like to watch her play the games.
S.,
Club Penguin is a good alternative considering what else is out there for kids (Habbo). I know the year membership seems to be outrageous for what they actually get for it, but it is a HUGE deal to them. It really is.
It is a safe place for kids to go and they LOVE the memberships.
My girls play on Club Penguin, but only the free version. They have Webkinz and I find those a much better deal. Buying one Webkinz at about $12 will give your child access for a year. Better than $60 in my opinion, but I am not sure of the difference of the two softwares. I know their girl and guy friends both have accounts.
My 10-year-old son has been playing the free version off & on for a while, and just last week asked to upgrade to the paid version. After looking at the options and considering my son's attention span, I agreed to pay for 1 month for around $5 (was able to pay with PayPal). I think he will get the most use of it while he's on Christmas break, and forget about it once he's back at school.
My daughter loves club penguin. It has been very safe in our experience. She likes to "meet" her friends(real life friends) on there. We have not paid for the membership. There are still many activities to do without paying.
no complaints here. my nephews and my 3 kids have memberships and it is well worth it.
My 9 (almost 10) year old son played it for a while and wanted a membership too. We signed up for the 3 month or 6 month which was a great idea. Because the "new" wore off really quick. It is a very safe site though. I'm just so thankful I didn't sign up for the whole year. He played for about 2 weeks.
Hi S.. Yeah, we do Club Penguin too at our house. My kids want the upgraded version (paid), to which I have always told them, "If you want it, I will get it for you for a Christmas gift or a Birthday gift. Or, you can use your allowance money to get it. OR we can create ONE penguin for all 3 kids in our family to use and you can all split the cost equally." So far, no takers on that deal. But it sounds like a fair way for me to handle it. Quite often, if the kids have to give up their own money, they will more carefully consider the value of the dollar.
Good Luck!
