Momo No Mo: YouTube and the Rise of Parenting Scared
If I open my feed and see Momo one more time, I may take a hammer to my device. If you haven’t seen this terrifying puppet thing with a creepy and distorted Snap Chat filter, consider yourself lucky. It’s like a character straight out of a Tim Burton horror movie.
The Momo Epidemic
I like to call this the “Momo Epidemic”. A terrifying article about our kids goes viral and we lose our minds. We read with mouths wide open in disbelief wondering how on earth our kids’ world ever got so bad. The moment we process the last period of the article, we call the kids down for a family meeting. No prayer first. No consideration or time to process what we just read. No. We have an immediate knee-jerk response to call the kids down, gather all their devices never to be returned again. Or, we begin to Marie Kondo their tablets and smart phones deleting anything and everything that has the potential to attack our children.
Can I tell you something? Momo is nothing new. Evil and darkness has been a part of this world since day one. When I was a kid, it was Ouija boards and the tail of Bloody Mary. Evil was just as alive and active way back when as it is today. It’s just morphed into a different form.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7
Are articles informative? Absolutely. Should these viral posts be what triggers our parenting? Absolutely not. Articles and viral posts should be an add-on to what we are already doing. It is time we stop looking up from our phones after a creepy face pops up and start parenting from looking up from our Bibles.
It is time we stop looking up from our phones after a creepy face pops up and start parenting from looking up from our Bibles.
Before you stop reading, let me explain. Momo is out there. Momo has always been out there. Evil will take on whatever form necessary. Do not be so consumed by fear. That is not the place God desires us to parent from. We are not unaware of Satan’s schemes. Lest we forget that God has given us protection from the evils and darkness in this world and it is not found on Facebook. It is found in the Book. And, He’s given this to us so that we may give it to our kids.
Don’t be scared. Evil is no surprise to God. Read the Old Testament. There was a whole-heck-of-a-lot of evil way back when. But, here’s the good news: we are victorious in this fight. Victorious.
I know I can do a much better job parenting my boys from the Word rather then Facebook. I can improve on reading more about how God designed me to parent and how my children are designed to receive discipline and guidance from the Bible rather then consuming more articles posted in my feed.
Momo is out there. And if it’s not Momo, it’s something else. Stop running from evil (& let’s stop teaching our children to run) because it will chase you down Start running towards evil, instead, putting on your full armor of God knowing the you AND your children are victorious because you have equipped them with the right weapons to defeat the darkness that tries to infiltrate their lives.
Stop running from evil because it will chase you down. Start running towards evil, instead, knowing you are already victorious in this fight.
I know we, as parents, want to protect our children at all costs. We would do anything to keep them wrapped securely in a safe bubble. Unfortunately, that is not possible. What is possible is the ability to empower our kids with the necessary tools to be able to combat evil when it enters their world; because it will enter their world.
Look, I’m not saying we ignore these things. But, they can’t be our primary source. Let them serve as a reminder of what God has already told us: there is a very real enemy out there and he comes to seek, kill, and destroy us. What better way to do this than through our kids.
Don’t be parent scared. Stop allowing viral posts to prompt you to parent from a place of fear. Instead, parent from the Bible equipping your children with truth. Parenting from this place elicits peace and enables our kids to have the power when evil tries to get in.
I did it wrong. I parented from a reactionary state and didn’t take time to process. I didn’t allow discernment to enter the equation. I just jumped. And because of that, my son has a vision he created in his mind that he can’t shake. Because I didn’t take a second to pray and ask God to guide me in how to maneuver this situation first, I didn’t give my boys the proper tools to combat this evil. Because of this, I allowed fear to enter their lives.
One day, these little boys are going to be grown. They won’t have me or their dad to help them handle the evils of this world. It is our responsibility to train them up (Proverbs 22:6) with power confident in their ability to run towards evil when it arises because they know they are equipped to fight it.
It is no surprise to anyone that parenting is hard stuff. All of us strive to do what’s best hoping for the best. And just when we feel like we are on top of our game, something like this comes along and knocks us down. Momo is a good reminder to us all that evil is out there and very present in our world. Let this reminder not scare us but empower us to fight that much harder against the darkness of our world. The fight begins in the Word. Start there.
Love & Blessings,
Meg