This past week had a big YouTube scare, with the Momo Challenge.
I saw so many posts about it and really hoped that it was a hoax, which is what it turned out to be, thankfully…
But, even still, it makes you worried as to what your kids could be subjected to online.
As if it isn’t scary enough out in the world, this made us worry about what could be happening within our safe homes.
My daughter just turned 10 months, so she is no where near watching YouTube videos on her own, but I worry for when she is older.
How will I protect her from everything out there?
Can I protect her from everything out there?
The answer really is no.
And as much as it hurts to say it, it’s true.
My parents weren’t able to protect me from all the bad out there, and I won’t be able to protect her. She is her own person and will need to make her own choices, and either listen to what I say or not. And then sometimes life just happens…it isn’t always good or pretty.
But I will do what I can to make sure she understands the difference between good and bad and to come to me right away if something bad happens, in real life or online.
Seeing people’s reactions to the news of Momo really got me thinking…
Fear makes us feel like we have no control.
Everyone started searching the videos their kids watch to see if it would pop up, and wondered if their kids saw it and didn’t tell them. Freaking out just a little bit, desperately hoping they never will see it.
Being a parent is such a scary thing. It’s honestly the scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve heard that the worry doesn’t stop when they grow up, either.
But I have to remember that I still have control. I’m the Mama and I get to teach her. I also get to monitor what she does and sees for the most part, especially while she is young.
If there are scary things on T.V. I won’t have her watch it. If there are scary things outside, I’ll keep her inside, etc. I can protect her in every way right now.
Well, almost every way…
We have three cats. Two of them stay away from Madison for the most part, but our one-year old cat, Tetra, will play with her and come up and sniff her and let Madison touch her sometimes.
But she’ll also play rough and not understand that her claws hurt.
About a week ago we found out that Madison had learned that Tetra’s claws are sharp. She pulled her hands away when I brought Tetra close to her. It was unusual of Madison to not try and grab or “pet” her, so I brought Tetra’s paw toward her and she moved back even more and looked scared and nervous.
Which was when we realized that she was scared of her sharp claws.
I was honestly really sad at first. I didn’t want Madison to be sad or scared of the kitty, when she was normally so happy to be around her and crawl after her, screeching out of excitement.
But, it’s a lesson that everyone learns.
Cats have claws and they hurt. The end.
But it felt like a sort of loss of innocence for Madison to learn that lesson. And it made my heart hurt just a little bit.
So, we can still mostly control what our kids experience. It’s different when they grow up more and go to school and are around other people and other adults. You have less control then as to what they see and hear, but you are still the number one teacher in their lives, and also the number one comfort.
We need to always remember that we are still in control of that.
Feeling in control diminishes fear of what could happen.
And we always must monitor what our children are watching and just be present. There is so much that can be accessed online, we have to be even more vigilant and protective than our parents had to be.
They just had to tell us to look both ways before crossing the street and to not take candy from a stranger.
Parents now have to do that, as well as monitoring what they get into online.
It’s crazy.
But, it is always possible to do. Protect your kids at all costs <3