Real life is like Webkinz

Last night, Penguin and I used the online grade book to look up her grades.  She told me how much she hates grades, because they don't help anything.  They just feel like a punishment, when they aren't good, and normal when they are. 
So we looked at the percentages.  And what happened when a paper didn't get turned in (or at least recorded yet)  And then I told her that all I care about is that she does her best work. 

It wasn't reassuring for her.  So I tried a different tact.  When you see that you have an A+ in Social studies, but you only have a B- in English, it means when you have extra credit from both classes, to do the extra credit in English first.  And it means you might be in a hurry to do homework...but you need to take a little more time with English, to double check spelling and stuff. 
Suddenly a light bulb went on. 
"It's just like webkinz world!" 
Webkinz World?  (For those who don't know, it's an online virtual pet community, accessed by an "adoption" code you obtain by purchasing a plush Webkinz toy.  it's full of games and several once a day activities.) 
"Yep, webkinz.  Like when I'm doing the acadamy and having trouble in one class, I keep working on it so I can level it up." 
And she went on in more detail about how this improves her pet's performance. 
But I thought it worthy of blogging. 
Real life is like webkinz.  You need to work on the areas you're weaker in, so that you get caught up to your strong areas.  And then it's all around more fun. 
Who says we don't learn anything from computer games?