Schools Ban Virtual Pets

TOY computer "pets" have been banned from many schools after disrupting classes and upsetting their young owners.

The egg-shaped electronic "pet", the size of a large key-fob, is equipped with liquid-crystal displays. Owners must "nurture" it - it bleeps if it is hungry or ill and can "die" if neglected.

Teachers are finding that the craze for the Japanese toys is distracting children as they attend to their bleeping cyber pets.

In some cases teachers have had to console weeping children whose "pet" has "died". Teacher unions are warning that the craze could get out of hand if sales of Tamagotchi - it's Japanese for "lovable egg" - continue at the present rate.

Designed for children who are not allowed real pets, owners press buttons to feed, stroke and exercise the computer toy until it grows old and expires. It then flies off to "heaven" and the whole process, which can take a month, begins again.

But the effects on a child if the "pet" dies through neglect can be devastating. Psychologists say that they can suffer "real feelings of bereavement".

Grainne O'Reilly-Askew, the head of Brookland junior school in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, said that nearly all the schools in the area had been forced to ban the toy.

Independent schools such as Sarum Hall, an all-girls preparatory school in north London, have also banned the toys, as has the Japanese school in Acton.

Parents, who have had to queue for hours outside Hamley's in Regent Street or Toys R Us to secure one of the best-selling cyber pets, are increasingly regretting making the effort.

Sue Lang, who works for a television company, said her eight-year-old daughter, Charlotte, had been miserable for days after accidently "killing" her pet by dropping it in water, which affected the electronics.

"She cried so inconsolably during classes that the school had to get hold of me," said Mrs Lang. "She didn't sleep and had tummy aches as a result of all the stress. My husband had to queue up for two hours outside Toys R Us because only the first 50 customers were guaranteed a toy. My daughter and 11-year-old son were desperate for them. Charlotte is still deeply upset and wants a new one, but I don't think so." She added that her daughter's south London independent school was now considering banning them.

A colleague said that her son had raided his savings to pay a friend £13 for a Tamagotchi, £3 more than they cost in the shops.

Psychologists say that children could experience similar feelings to the death of a much-loved family pet after losing a Tamagotchi.

Dr Daniel DeSouza, of Toronto, Canada, is setting up a support group and has voiced his concerns in a Tamagotchi forum on the Internet. "Caring for a Tamagotchi is like caring for a real creature, thus the death of one can be as mentally painful as losing a favourite pet dog or cat," he wrote.

John Andrews, general secretary of the Professional Association of Teachers, backed tough action by the schools, saying: "We are at the irritating stage at the moment, but this could get out of hand."

Schools in Thailand and Taiwan have banned the toys from their schools and more than half the schools in Singapore have followed suit.