Virtual pets for toddlers: are they good for kids?

If you grew up in the nineties, you may remember a little egg-shaped keyring pet that beeped for food at the worst possible moment. Virtual pets are back, and today's best ones are made for much younger children. So are they actually good for kids?

What children can learn from looking after a pet

Pretend care is one of the oldest kinds of play. Children feed dolls, bath teddies and tuck in toy animals because practising care is how they learn about it. A well-made virtual pet can support the same things:

• Empathy. Noticing that a character is hungry, sleepy or lonely, and doing something kind about it.
• Routines. Eating, washing and sleeping on a rhythm, which mirrors a child's own day.
• Cause and effect. "When I feed it, it's happy." Simple, visible results that toddlers love.
• Responsibility, sized right. A small, daily job that's theirs, without the stakes of a real animal.
• Words for feelings. Talking about how the pet feels is a gentle way to talk about how your child feels.

What to avoid

The old style of virtual pet was built around worry: miss a feed and your pet gets sick, or worse. That's fun for some older kids, but for toddlers it can cause real guilt and upset. When you pick one for a young child, steer clear of:

• Pets that get ill or die when they're forgotten.
• Guilt messages and streaks that punish a child for a busy day.
• Notifications aimed at the child, pulling them back to the screen.
• Shops and ads that turn caring into spending.

What a gentle virtual pet looks like

For little ones, the best virtual pets are forgiving and calm. They're happy to see your child, never punish them for being away, and fit around family life instead of demanding attention. Short visits are enough, and they end on a smile.

How Yokiez does it

Yokiez is a virtual pet for ages 2 to 8. Your child opens a lucky packet, hatches a surprise Yokie, and looks after it with feeding, baths, cuddles and bedtime. Over time it grows from a teeny newborn all the way to a cloud spirit, and raising it with care shapes who it becomes.

Yokiez never get sick or die. If your child forgets about theirs, it just gets a little sleepy, misses them, and perks right up when they come back. Any reminders go to you, not your child, and only if you turn them on. There are no ads, no chat and nothing to buy inside the app.