Webkinz is a great safe place for kids to play.  There is no way to actually talk to people while on the site.  We are very careful with the sites our daughter can use and so far Webkinz seems to be the safest.  You cannot chat with each other at all.  You can send a preprinted message when competing in a game like "good job" " wanna play again" ect.  but none of the walking around "Hey hot stuff" you get on wizards realm or those other sites.  The only down side is the toys run from $6 for Lil Kinz to $20 for the regular Webkinz but once you buy one you can play online all year for free....