I have six daughters ranging in age from 5 to 21.

Unlike the dark ages when I was growing up with my sisters, today’s girls live in a world of toys, gadgets and games that are vastly unlike the Barbies and Easy Bake ovens of yesterday. A girl today still has the feminine flair that makes them distinct from boys but most must and do possess of bit a tech savviness — a trait that in my day was almost exclusively masculine.

I’m not the first father to sweat Christmas eve bike assembly (a timeless Christmas tradition that remains, joyfully, unisex) but I start to worry when my kids are getting toys I don’t understand anymore and that makes Christmas eve a little more daunting. Take for example the Tamagotchi.

The idea behind this toy is that it is an electronic pet — kind of like Dolls 2.0. In the old days, girls played with dolls that were at first made exclusively of cloth. Over time, technology was improved that introduced plastics, ceramics and even glass to the child’s play thing. Later, dolls were made to wet, cry, talk, move and even poop. The Tamogotchi takes it all to a new level by making the doll virtual, interactive and portable in a way even my boy-imagination with my GI Joe never could.

Through some non-sensical series of beeps and button-pressings a kid can now manage the upkeep, care and progression of their doll — reincarnated as the Tamagotchi. They have to be nurtured — the more the kid plays the better their “doll” or ”pet” progresses. They can be put to sleep, fed, encouraged, made to laugh or cry. There are nefarious elements that enter in to play — robbers and bad guys who steal vital points or who make the Tamagotchi mad or sad.  

Some think Tamagotchis are a passed fad. This article, for example, calls this year’s Christmas offering of Tamagotchis a “comeback”. I must have missed them the first time around.

But they are hot for Christmas 2007. My four youngest daughters each have one (completely accessorized, of course). Even my five year old, a beginning reader, goes everywhere with this little thing hanging from her neck, beeping now and then for her attention and drawing unexpected and vociferious reactions from her as it gets into various types of trouble. My 7 year old, 9 year old and 11 year old all have online Tamagotchi buddies that they have found on forums and sites dedicated to this little world of virtual reality.

I recall back in the day I could blow away my kids with the techno-wizardry once reserved just for the old man. I remember having my first mobile phone — a “car phone” we called it. It was so big it was housed in it’s own purse-like carrier. But it was cool because I could talk and drive at the same time. I remember taking my little girls then on drives just so they could call their mother from the car phone.

Today I have a Blackberry that gives me not only a phone but also email and Internet instantly wherever I want it. But my girls are no longer impressed. If it can’t “link up” to their Tamagotchi, it’s just not cool.

I’m not sure how many Tamagotchis Santa will be stuffing in the stockings this Christmas. Maybe I’ll find a good magazine to read or something for after we put them down on Christmas Eve.