Attack Of The Tamagotchies

The older girls went to Hamley's yesterday. It is one of the biggest toy shops in the world and all three came back with Tamagotchies.

They have been talking about nothing else since. I have bloody Tamagotchies coming out of my ears. I admit that I originally bought one of the "first batch" back in the late 90's when they were all the craze. Then, you couldn't turn them off and since this one was decidedly unJewish, it didn't make it through the first Shabbat (as I couldn't feed it until after Shabbat was over), so I sensibly gave it away to Dana's maid of honour (who funnily enough teaches in the girls' school)

Wouldn't you know it, but Tamagotchies have become more resilient these days (a bit like a hospital superbug that won't be knocked off by pansy antibiotics) and thus allow you to "pause" them for as long as you like. Irritatingly enough, you can also connect them via infra-red, share presents, play games and...wait for it....get them hitched. Welcome to Tamagotchi Mark II.

Anyway, I digress. Dassi and Tali have been at theirs non-stop since yesterday. Michal was peer-pressured by her sisters into spending her pocket money (and they aren't cheap at over £15 a piece) on a yellow model, even though she clearly wasn't interested in it. As a result, I am now I'm the not-so-proud owner/keeper of the annoying little thing. It keeps on beeping and I guiltily feel the need to care for it, since Michal promised me that she will take it back when she's ready to be responsible for it - assuming she'll want to, in about a year or so. Meanwhile, Dassi keeps on badgering me to "connect" and play games with hers, whilst Tali's had hers confiscated this afternoon, unfortunately only for the night, but hell, we can extend that.

When I called this posting "Attack of the Tamagotchies", I was not at all kidding. Any parents reading this will ask themselves why we agreed to let our kids buy these cursed objects - suffice to say that constant nagging will eventually get through any defense and every parent will understand that. Won't they?