The Momo Challenge and our Children

Maybe you have heard about the “Momo Challenge” circulating in all media platforms these past few days. In the challenge, a character named Momo is considered the master who allegedly instructs its victims mostly youngsters to harm someone and then themselves. Also, the character would supposedly curse at the viewer and and repeatedly tell them that their loved ones will die if they would refuse the task assigned to them.

The challenge has apparently been showing altered versiona of children’s shows and games on YouTube.

In a recent report it was said that an 11-year-old boy committed suicide inside a school in Quezon City because of the said challenge. The parent confirmed that the child was into the Momo Challenge, which he learned from one of his classmates.

On this note, the Department of Education is calling parents and guardians to be vigilant and should closely monitor their children’s internet and online activities. Likewise, parents and guardians are urged to maintain an open communication with their children, educate them about responsible online behavior, monitor what they access online and help them understand that their parents and guardians are the foremost people they can trust about matters that make them feel uncomfortable, coerced or unsafe.

As for us here in Davao City, Mayor Sara Duterte has joined calls on responsible digital parenting by asking parents and guardians to monitor and check the online activities of their children amid the viral “Momo challenge” on social media, this was posted in mindanaopolitics.com.ph

“Parents should monitor unsa ang ginatan-aw sa ilang mga anak sa ilang gadgets (Parents should monitor what their children are watching in their gadgets),” the mayor said in an interview at the sidelines of the 82nd Araw ng Davao opening night last March 1, 2019. Sara said she came to know the “Momo challenge” issue from her daughter, who told her that it has been the topic of her classmates in school.

Sara said her daughter reported it to her teacher, who in turn advised students to only watch appropriate videos.

She said that while the government cannot regulate how people use their personal gadgets, the government can remind parents and guardians to keep tab on the online activities of their children (PNA).

On another note, Andy Uyboco in his column Free Thinking Me last February 28, 2019, which was posted at sunstar.com.ph, said parents are concerned on this Momo Challenge and are suddenly banning YouTube or outright banning devices altogether. He said that banning does not answer why things are wrong or why people are better off not doing them. It simply raises more questions and heightens curiosity. And we all know what happens when people are overcome with curiosity.

With this, he said “No, the real Momo challenge is not how to stop this thing, or how to prevent this from spreading, or how to prevent kids from seeing it; the real challenge is how to teach our kids to think critically, how to trust them to do the right thing, and how to ask relentless questions without fear of being shushed.”

Uyboco said that unless we teach our kids, we will always be looking over their shoulders, wondering what they are reading or what they are watching or what they are listening to. But if we know they have a good head on their shoulders (and most of them do) we can trust them to do the right thing no matter what.

In closing, he said, “Teach your kids to think, then trust them. Easier said than done. But that’s the challenge.”

Indeed, we parents and guardians should be vigilant in the online activities of our children. We should also prioritize our children and guide them in the way they should live. By doing so, our children would be able to distinguish what is right and wrong. Remember what Proverbs 22:6 says “Teach a child how he should live, and he will remember it all his life.”

“The best inheritance a parent can give to his children is a few minutes of his time each day.” – O.A. Battista