I donno if any of u had this experience before.
we had been out to an October festival which was very crowded & as we all sat down to have lunch my DH got up to get some drinks. 2 of my trio ran after to go wth him while i was catering to the other. I did not notice them running after DH but was informed so by my cousin. Initially I assumed that DH must have been wth them but donno why i decided to check on him & he said NO he did not see the kids.
We searched them all over the place & as we were about to inform security my cousin spotted them holding hands & crying...phew!!!!!

They r 5 so we do not use strollers but after this i am kinda paranoid & scared to take them out specially at the pumpkin patch now

any suggestions??? i did check on child locator devices but confused on what to do.




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Oh my that is scary!!!! I think I would be nervous to take them out again too. I think a very stern conversation about it is probably needed. I am sure they were scared too and that may be enough. They are old enough to understand that not everyone in this world is nice and that there are some people in this world that want to hurt children. I would stress to them that they need to always stay near mommy. My kids (at that age) were taught that they needed to be close enough to touch mommy, unless I said they could go somewhere else. They had to ask ME not daddy or whoever was with us. I was the one who had to know where they were at all times.

Dawn

Mom to Samantha, Jeremy, Paige and Christian

Born 12/12/03 @ 31w 2d



http://lovinglifewithquads.blogspot.com

Wow, that is scary and is my worst nightmare. Let us know if you find something that helps besides a serious conversation with your kids.

http://tripletmomplusone.blogspot.com/

Mom to BBG Triplets and singleton boy. Charlie, Jake and Kaylee are three years old and Sam is one.

That is scary. Sounds like a big teaching moment. I am betting you won't have to worry about them wondering off again, and everyone will be extra careful from now on.

When our kids were younger we would have talks before we went to crowded places. We held their hands and never really let them roam around crowded places or out of our sight.

I have always had the fear of what you experienced happening to my kids, so I've been extra paranoid. It happened to me when I was about 7 or 8 on our family vacation in Disney World.

I was with my parents when one of my older sisters was getting in line to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (remember that ride?). Anyway, I wanted to go with my sister, and my parents were going to a different ride with my younger siblings. They told me to go ahead and meet up with my sister in line. Well when I tried to find her in line I couldn't. Then when I turned to go back with my parents they were gone too. I was lost for over an hour and nobody knew I was lost! A young couple found me crying and brought me to a security guard. They put a search out and found two of my other older siblings a while later. I was SO scared! I guess that has made me extra cautious today. Especially when a kid decided he/she wants to go with daddy now after he has already started out. I never let them go catch up. Gotta be holding hands or you don't go.

Terri~
12/21/01 at 33 weeks

That is really scary. I am so glad they were found without incident. I better start looking into the locator devices myself.

Our Blog http://tripmomma.blogspot.com/

I would bet they won't do it again!

I would incorporate into your pre-crowded-place routine a conversation to include:
- ask & wait for permission before going anywhere
- what to do if they get lost - STAND STILL and ask a mommy for help

I honestly would not put the money into child locator devices. I think it's overkill. The chances of one of those nightmare situations are just SO slim! And I wouldn't hesitate to go out again to the pumpkin patch - great chance to check their understanding of what to do!

BGG born 4/25/05 at 31w1d




New baby girl born 9/19/06

I think the incident will be enough to keep them close. When I was 4, I got lost at the fair. My mother told me to hang on to my sister's stroller. I didn't and got lost. Scared me so badly, I have never forgotten it. I made sure to stay close! I bet your kids will never get lost again.

I had something similar happen a few years ago. We still lived in Memphis at the time and went to the Memphis Zoo during Spring Break with some friends. We had memberships and went often, but my older boys were in 1st grade and my trio in pre-K, so we didn't go as often. We were toward the back of the zoo, working our way back to the front, when it became really crowded. We were walking along this one area in the zoo by the zebras and giraffes that gets more narrow than other areas, when we hit this large crowd walking toward us. The park hadn't been crowded at all that day and out of nowhere came this crowd walking through that filled up the whole area.

Some of these people were really scary. One guy was talking about drugs, apparently amusing himself and laughing about his comments. I remember one of my older sons looking at him and the man saying something to him. I am doing head counts all over the place and we work our way to the end of the giraffes where the space opens back up and there are three path options. My friends and I are all counting kids and we have them all except for my one son that I had just seen a few seconds prior when that one man spoke to him. The crowd walking against us was also through the other end, so that area was now pretty open and I can't find him behind us. There are path options to take at this point, so I walk a bit up each one, calling for him thinking he might be looking for us on one of those, but I don't see him. I call his name over and over. I see a tram operator over to the side, stopped, so I tell him I have a missing child. I have never seen such idiotic dolts in my entire life. I am calm, but obviously worried while this idiot acts like he has no idea what he should do. I am telling him "you have a radio. I have told you exactly what my child is wearing."(It was St. Patrick's Day and my son had on a very bright green shirt with a whole black and white chess board printed on the back and bright yellow Disney crocs. He wouldn't be difficult to spot.) "I want you to make sure no child is allowed to leave the zoo exit fitting his description and announce it on your employee radio so other employees will know to be on the look-out for this kid." While he continues to do nothing but look baffled and confused I plan to take on of the paths back to the front, but am worried he is on one of the other paths, while my friends keep my other kids and stay put in case he returns. About 5 minutes later a Hispanic lady that spoke very little English and worked as some type of cleaning person there saw me talking to another idiot zoo worker I came upon. This lady understood my son's description and managed to convey to me she knew where my son was. She took me by a back shortcut to the main office and there sat my son. He had only been there a minute or two and the cleaning lady had just been there. Apparently, he had gotten to the clearing at the end of the giraffes before us, which is where I knew in my gut he would know to wait for me. However, a lady saw him immediately and asked him if he was lost. Instead of waiting a minute to see if his Mom came through the crowd, she took him to the office. He told me he thought he heard me call his name when they were walking, but she took him to the office anyway, so he must have been barely out of sight when I made it through. This child is my most mature child. He is the second Mommy in the house. He is very responsible and also very obedient. I really do appreciate the lady trying to help, but what really scared me was I asked him if he would have gone with her had she tried to walk out the gate with him instead of going into the office, which is right before the gate, and he said yes, he would have. I was chilled when he said yes. We had always talked about not walking off with people to our kids, but we probably hadn't done it recently at that time. It is obvious we need to talk about it all the time, not to scare them, but to keep the plan fresh in their minds. It needs to be drilled in them every time we go someplace.

After that, we always made a plan when we went someplace, for example, when we went to Disney, we pointed out who the castmembers were and what they looked like. They were specifically told not to ask anyone but them for help.

Apparently, the reason for the big crowd that day was it was the free afternoon for the public day at the zoo. It had started while we were still there and we didn't know about it. The Memphis Zoo ended up on the news that night for allowing too many people in that afternoon and being over the fire capacity.

A child locator device is probably too much. My best advice is to make sure you have a plan with every outing and go over it with them each time. And remember that your most obedient child is actually the one most at risk because they would most likely do what any adult told them to do. If that nice, well meaning lady hadn't taken my son from that spot, he would have been exactly where I would have expected him to be waiting for me if he had gotten ahead of me in that crowd. I can tell you he was so embarrassed by that, he never has had it happen again and he is now 10.

Cindy
Paul and Andrew
Kristen, Rachel and Michael

That is scary! They are 5 and that was a HUGH teaching moment for them. I don't think you need to drastically change things now because of one incident at age 5. They are old enough to be in Kindy and follow directions and learn from an incident like this. Rather than looking at things to buy to childproof your outings focus on teaching them the importance of not walking off or following anyone without being told they can. Remind them of how scared they were time when they couldn't find you or DH when they followed him and nobody knew they were doing it. Look at your local library for videos on what to do if they do get separated in a store (only talk to a store employee, how to recognize a store employee, stay where you are don't go off with anyone even the employee, etc.)

But I know how scary it is. We were at an amusement park when the kids were 2 1/2 and my father was watching my son while I took the girls on a roller coaster he didn't want to ride. My father is not used to watching little kids and wasn't just leaning on the rail watching us and my son wondered off. Shocking a 2.5yo didn't just stand there at the rail LOL They yelled in to us and DH ran out of the line to help find him. Couldn't find him for 5 mins. He had walked over to where some stroller were.

Tasha
Have children afraid of monsters or just looking for a fun kids app? http://www.goawaymonster.com/

We taught mine really early to stop and come back when I blew a whistle. We made a game of it at first to see who could get back to me the fastest. Then whenever we went somewhere we always took a whistle and used it if they got too far away. I have blown a whistle in a crowded store, at the zoo and museum, and outdoor places. Most people stop and look around at me, but my kids always came running back. They can hear it much further than they can hear your voice.

Also, tuck a biz card with just your cell number in their pocket and have them hand it to a mother with children to call if they get lost.

Kim
Nate, Nick & Noel(36w4d)and Nia.

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This is BRILLIANT! I'm so getting myself a whistle!

Morgan
M 17yo
J 5yo
C 3yo
GBG triplets born at 29wks in Jan 2011!