Experts have recently explained what exactly The Momo Challenge is and how to ensure your children are protected from being a part of it.

Safeguarding your children from the outside world is hardly a new phenomenon. It is something that has existed since the beginning of humankind. However, there is no getting around the fact that over the past decade or so, parents have really had to up their game in this arena. The outside world is no longer beyond your front door. Thanks to the internet, it could be in the palm of your child's hand.

The latest manifestation of exactly that has been making headlines left and right recently. The Momo Challenge. Even if you are not entirely sure what the challenge is, you have probably seen the haunting image associated with it. As laid out by Forbes, the challenge involves finding a special phone number, sending it a message on WhatsApp, and the number replying with increasingly unsettling challenges for whoever initiated the conversation.

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According to some reports, those challenges ramp all the way up to self-harm and even suicide. However, there is currently no evidence that any children have been directly harmed by the game. The thought of your kids being tangled up in this latest fad is still scary though, and there are some ways in which you can help make sure that doesn't happen, and also some facts to help put your mind at ease.

One of the main issues with phenomena such as The Momo Challenge is parents focusing on it too much. Adults have been sharing stories about the challenge without checking the validity of them, hence turning it into a viral sensation. As pointed out by Carmel Glassbrook, manager of Professionals Online Safety Helpline, it is also important to let children know they can talk about these things.

Westbrook expressed that the key is "teaching good practice rather than telling them there’s a big red button they mustn’t push." Something that should also come as a relief is YouTube marking anything related to Momo as "inappropriate or offensive." That means if you have restricted mode turned on, those videos will not be able to be accessed. Last but not least, a writer who conducted research on the challenge for Forbes spent an entire day contacting Momo numbers he found online, but didn't receive a response from any of them. That makes us feel a little better about the whole creepy situation.

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