Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be a bit pissed about the school scaring my DD?

70 replies

TheBentNeckLady · 02/03/2019 22:27

My DD's school was given a talk on 'Momo' at school and now she's petrified. Another girl cried in the assembly because she was so scared. Momo so far isn't even proven to be a real thing. A general internet safety talk can never go amiss, surely this would have sufficed?

OP posts:
BusySnipingOnCallOfDuty · 02/03/2019 22:28

Tbh I dont know how i feel about momo. I really need to check what, if anything, my eldest knows

needthisthread · 02/03/2019 22:29

Why is she scared?

ReaganSomerset · 02/03/2019 22:30

I'd say complain. That picture is freaky to me as an adult. If they showed that to a bunch of primary kids, I'm not surprised they got scared.

HomeMadeMadness · 02/03/2019 22:30

What did they say that made her scared? Have you now managed to reassure her. The general consensus on momo seems to be that the reaction to it has been more damaging than the initial images/video. As it's stirred up huge interest and lots of copycats.

SachaStark · 02/03/2019 22:31

Need to know how old the children are, otherwise how do we know if the level of talk was inappropriate?

WiddlinDiddlin · 02/03/2019 22:32

What on earth do you mean 'Momo isn't proven to be a real thing'...

Momo isn't a real thing. Momo is like fucking Santa right, you do know this. Momo doesn't fucking exist.

Jaysus I've spent the night with a 14 year old who managed to grasp this and now there are adults who don't get it?!

Momo is a combination of a photo of a scary sculpture, and nasty arseholes who use social media to bully and frighten people.

Add in a nice big dollop of hysteria and idiocy and hey presto... you have adults suggesting 'it might be real'...!

janetforpresident · 02/03/2019 22:32

I really hope their didn't show the picture!!!

I would be annoyed about this too. I have had a chat with my kids about internet safety but neither of them seemed to know about momo so the last thing I wanted to do was be too detailed and scare them. I don't think it's for the school In this case

fishonabicycle · 02/03/2019 22:33

I think they mean real in the sense of 'being a thing on the internet' rather than being actually 'real'.

Hodgehegg · 02/03/2019 22:35

Its incredibly stupid to be bringing this up with little kids who hopefully have never heard of it! They've just made it worse!

Original poster
TheBentNeckLady · 02/03/2019 22:35

The kids are 6. She doesn't really watch YouTube tbh and we've tried reassuring her but she's very sensitive and I think just her being told by her teachers that it's out there has freaked her out.

OP posts:
Butchyrestingface · 02/03/2019 22:36

Show her this.

Or maybe don't... Wink

To be a bit pissed about the school scaring my DD?
TheSheepofWallSt · 02/03/2019 22:36

Literally the only children I’ve heard of being scared by Momo, are children being scared by adults telling them about Momo.

Tell your daughter it isn’t real.
Show her the news articles (in reputable newspapers) that say definitely nobody has seen any videos containing Momo.
Then ring the school and tell them you hope they’re fact checking lesson content better than they checked this.

I had this utter nonsense from my 2.5 year olds nursery this week- and wasted no time telling them they were making a ridiculous situation worse.

RosemarysBush · 02/03/2019 22:36

When people say it isn’t a real thing they mean the ‘game’ isn’t actually a thing. No adult thinks Momo is a real creature. (Presumably)

Original poster
TheBentNeckLady · 02/03/2019 22:37

Widdlin, I did not mean I thought momo was real. I mean the whole thing about it even being on the videos at all could be a hoax Hmm

OP posts:
janetforpresident · 02/03/2019 22:37

Very stupid of the school.

TheSheepofWallSt · 02/03/2019 22:37

@RosemarysBush

You’d hope so wouldn’t you, but judging by the palaver of the last week ... 🤷🏼‍♀️

goldengummybear · 02/03/2019 22:38

My ds was in primary during the "killer clowns" scares and the school spoke to the kids about it. Playground chat started with the y5/y6 and had filtered down the years as far as Reception very quickly so school had to take action.

There will be lots of kids who have heard of Momo and there's every chances of your child overhearing chat about it in the playground. There's no need to see the pic but the school did the right thing imo.

icouldwriteabook · 02/03/2019 22:38

Did someone just ask WHY she’s scared?
Seriously Hmm

She’s 6 years old (if you didn’t understand what’s very young and perfectly reasonable to be terrified about this) and probably had no idea about ‘momo’ Until the school brought it up.

I’d be having a strong word with the head teacher for this one, how stupid is your dd’s school Confused

LostwithSawyer · 02/03/2019 22:41

Better the school to tell her than a kid to show her.
This year it's momo before that it was 'killer clowns" .
I'd want the school to be proactive with these crazy phenomenons.

MoniqueTonique · 02/03/2019 22:41

We have had emails from our schools (both Junior and Senior) about Momo, forwarded from the Police. We have been advised NOT to explain what Momo is, to avoid spreading knowledge and discussion of it amongst children. Instead we have been given all the usual advice about internet safety and what behaviours to look out for in your child.

Amfeelingfline · 02/03/2019 22:43

Same happened here, not aware of it before the hysteria ( she’s 9), she’d even seen it at a friend’s house ( don’t ask 😠) a few weeks ago but had never mentioned it or been scared/worried, but after the talk she’s scared of going upstairs and had horrible nightmares ( I could hear her scream in her sleep). Nice one! A general internet safety talk would have been a lot more appropriate I believe...

SnowdropsiUnderTrees · 02/03/2019 22:48

It is definitely a real thing. Police have issued helpful guidance on it in my area which the school have forwarded to parents. Unfortunately not all parents are responsible enough to talk to their children where I live so lots will hear about it inter playground and that will be disastrous as rumours will go wild.
OP if your daughter hadn't heard of it she would have shortly so it's good the school talked to them.

needthisthread · 02/03/2019 22:51

Did someone just ask WHY she’s scared?
Seriously hmm

Yes. Yes I did. I know it’s momo, my question was why was she scared as in what the hell did school say to make her scared. So take your Hmm and ram it.

SuperSara · 02/03/2019 22:53

Most people here will be from the U.K., OP, so not sure if things are different where you are (USA, I’m guessing?)

I think it’s accepted as being a hoax by most schools here.

BeardedMum · 02/03/2019 22:54

We had an email from the school too and ds2 is convinced lots of people in his school has been called by this mono who lives in Australia. It’s a killer-clown situation. These things always makes me giggle they are so hysterical. I don’t think mono has the capacity to ring around to all the children in ds2’s school.