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Charlie Charlie and  Bloody Mary are just two of many viral games or challenges that many kids and teens have tried. It might seem like just innocent child's play but they have sinister underlying elements that can be unsettling. 

Now, there is another one that has surfaced. It's called the Momo challenge and parents all over world especially in the UK and the US have expressed concern. Even the police and schools in some US states have issued warnings to parents to be on the alert. Now we stress to you our Belizean parents, do not go into a panic or freak out because it may not even be real. I did some research on it and here is what I found. 

The favorite pastime for most kids is playing online video games and binge watching YouTube videos.

Many of them are glued to the screen for hours without parental supervision.

But now many parents are on high alert after reports of a disturbing suicide game that's gone viral, instructing kids to harm themselves. It is called the Momo challenge. Based on online reports, this creepy bulge - eyed doll head pops up in Peppa pig videos as well as the popular Fortnite game. This image along with tips on how to harm yourself is spliced into these videos. Other reports are that someone impersonating the ghoulish figure contacts you via WhatsApp, asks you to save the number and thereafter sends distressing images and tells you to carry out dangerous acts. Some American online news reports quoted a parent saying that in one of the videos, it instructed her daughter to wait until her parents were asleep and then turn on the gas stove and the microwave. What's also disturbing is that if the child does not comply and send pictures as proof, it threatens to harm them.

Elsira Richardson - Parent
"I am very concerned my kid likes to go on his tablet and his phone to watch Peppa Pig and if it is teaching the kids to kill themselves, it is bad, I would not want my son watching the video and go in his room or something."

Now there isn't overwhelming evidence of these videos. The UK Telegraph is one of the few online news sites that claims to have found one of these disturbing videos. There also isn't any confirmed cases of children committing suicide as a result of this Momo Challenge.

There are also news articles from CNN and the Washington Post calling it a hoax and that it was probably just some story that snowballed into a viral scare. Well, whether it is hoax or not, there is inappropriate and disturbing online content that children should not be watching and this Momo scare should prompt parents to be more involved in their child's online life.

Pamela Baird - Parent
"Wherever they are, monitoring will be happening, whether it be at school, which in they are not allowed with phones at school so definitely I have to monitor more."

Courtney Weatherburne
"What advice do you have for Belizeans parent specifically?"

Pamela Baird
"Well you need to monitor your child, if it is a time limit you give them and even during that time limit you to keep checking to see what they are doing because this thing just pops up so you don't know when it is going to pop up so my advice would be to time them if they really need to be on the internet, time them and try to keep them off YouTube."

It's sound advice but wishful thinking  that you can get your kids completely off YouTube. That's just not going to happen, so experts advise that you talk to your children about online content they should not watch, explain to them that they should not feel compelled to do anything that a stranger tells them to do online, and of course monitor as much as you can what your kids watch online. 

And, again, while there is a big scare about MOMO, we note that credible news organizations in the US and the UK have said it is a hoax.