Lost my dd at the park!

[Cantsleeppast3am]

Big fun fair and artificial beach, turn my back for a SECOND and she was gone! Disbelief at first, then real panic took over. She's 3.
Took about 5 minutes to find her, she'd wandered off.
We're supposed to be going to Bournemouth just me and her in a few weeks and now I don't won't to go.
I'm going to need a big drink tonight!

DD was a runner. Could have cheerfully throttled her on a few occasions. Wrist straps all the way with her.
MIL had a thing against them as well until she lost DD in the town centre one afternoon. She came around to my way of thinking after that incident.

Dh managed to lose both dd2 and ds at a small park up the road from home. They were about 6 and 3yo at the time.
Even worse, he decided to walk home to see if they'd come home. That's 10 minutes walk. I asked why he hadn't phoned to ask. He didn't know.

They were found feasting on blackberries halfway home. They'd seen dh leave and decided it must be time to go home. So off they'd trotted before being distracted by the blackberries.

I was somewhat sarcastic at his handling of the situation.

Reigns are your friend here.I dont care,they are a lifesaver.

Another tip take a picture on your phone of what your dc are wearing

If they do decide to do a Houdini,you can just show a picture.Much easier than trying to describe the clothes.While you are in a panic.

I agree with PP. Sharpie pen phone number on arm. Bright t shirt. Sorted.

@MmmBlowholes 🤣🤣🤣 waiting for it.... She ruined my perfectly good thread yesterday.

Every parents' worse fear! They've all been there!

My mum once lost me on a beach and even now, 30-cough-something-years later gets a slightly haunted look when she says "you never know how many little blond haired girls are on a beach until you lose one".

Ugh, I can't imagine the fear you felt! :(

When mine were little I drilled into them that the second they couldn't see me anywhere they had to bellow "Mum" at the top of their voices, and keep bellowing until I appeared.

@Corneliusmurphy I'm so sorry, it's not funny at all but the mental picture of a shop worker in America eyeing your remaining twin as if you had lost the plot, just made me LOL

Sorry, JeSuis. I wasn’t being arsey, I genuinely didn’t get it.

Well, this is where it all starts for me and the wife. Our Daughter and husband are to have their first child and the scans have just been done. Everything fine, thank goodness.
She is just struggling to keep food and drink down.
Heres to that journey into grandparenthood.

very scary. YY to writing their name on their arm when little. We did it on their tummy when older. Even if they know the number normally, under stress it can be hard to recall.

Also trained them to stand still as soon as they notice they've lost you. When they are older you can start talking about finding a member of staff etc but our default was always to stand still first. Imagine if you lost them in a supermarket for example, it could take forever if you are both moving because you keep missing each other. If child stands still and parent moves, you'll find them in a couple of minutes. Also it's a very simple "action plan" for the child to follow.

Lost mine too on the beach.

There were 4 adults with him, all well aware that he was a bolter and keeping a sharp eye on him but bolt he did! It happens so quickly. The 10 mins or so it took to track him down were the longest of my life.

We went for an extended reins solution, I don't know if they still make them but it was like a coiled telephone wire attached to velcro wristbands. It gave him a10ft safe range which was perfect for the beach.

DD (3) slipped may hand and legged it through the crowd on day 2 of a music festival. I was pushing a buggy and carrying a huge bag, so told DS (8) to chase her and I ran after once I'd found somewhere to park the pushchair (less than a minute).
They had vanished.

I went to the stewards.
I went to the meeting point
I went to every stall I knew they loved
I went to the circus skills as DD had loved the bottle of bubbles the man had given her the day before..
I went to the playground.
I threw up behind the first aid point.
I went back to the stewards.
They were just phoning me (my number on both Dcs arms). As they came out of the stewards tent the kind lady was opening DD's bubbles for her......that she'd stolen from the circus skills stall as she bolted past!!
I was so damn relieved I couldn't even be cross. (I did go and pay for them though).

Bless you.
This is awful.
Same thing happened to me. My daughter (also 3) wandered away at Rhyl. She was playing with her 3 brothers and my parents were sitting at the top of the steps watching them (my mum was in a wheelchair).
I went to buy her a sun hat and I was still in the queue when my dad came running up. With 5 sets of eyes on her she had disappeared in seconds
We combed the beach. Everyone else on the beach joined in too.
When I saw the search and rescue helicopter start to swoop over the sea, I remember thinking 'Oh my god, she's dead.'
In those 20 minutes that she was gone, I felt utterly bereft and lonely.
And then a lifeguard on a dune buggy rocked up and said he had found her. She had wandered about half a mile before someone took her to the life guard hut, and was asleep when I got there.
After that, I attached an extendable dog lead to her reins and did not give 2 shits what anyone else said about it.
Big hugs to you

We used to write our mobile number on DD arm so if she got lost she knew to show her arm to whoever found her. She did get lost once in Tesco they put a call on tannoy to close all the doors and security and staff went looking for her, they found her in the wine aisle! When I said what on Earth we’re you doing there she said “looking for you mummy you always go there”

Headintheclouds yeah I can't make head or tail of the UV pen suggestion either. I favour the Bic biro myself.

I lost Ds1 once. Was awful. It happens.

Once in Superdrug I noted a child at the end of the aisle wearing the exact same outfit as my child “ what are the chances? “ I thought to myself. Then I looked in the buggy and that dear reader was when I realised I had been blessed with a mini Houdini. Reins and a wrist strap essential parts of any outfit that kid wore.

I had those ID wristbands for mine that you can write your phone number on. I also trained them to stand where they were and not move around looking for me.

Hi, OP. Maybe it was my DD mentioned above, except she lost herself in Bluewater M&S.

If you're going to Bournemouth they used to do a scheme where every DC was issued with a wristband; there were different colours for different zones on the beach. You write your mobile number on it. I hope they still have this scheme. Please don't let this stop you from doing anything you want, but get reins. I had them and actually had to use a wristband on DS2 because he kept trying to run away or wouldn't stay with me. He's very stubborn so it took quite a while, even after he'd started school.

Legend has it if you say "reins" 3 times, @smartplay appears to tell you you're a shit parent.

That actually made me laugh out loud 😂

Also trained them to stand still as soon as they notice they've lost you.

That is a very good tip. I once found a child who had wondered nearly a mile across the town centre shouting "mummy" at intervals but not looking upset.
I was probably one of the most scary situations I've found a child in as there was someone who came up as I went to speak to them and wanted to "take them to the police station, we might see mummy on the way. You don't need to worry, I'll do it". Police station was some way out of town. I had to hold onto the child and refuse to let them budge while shouting for someone to get a security guard quickly. When eventually a security guard came other person left hurriedly.
Mum was found searching the shops near where they'd lost them.

I taught mine to stand still and shriek (few tears does no harm too). It gets attention quicker, and from multiple people.

I lost DS aged about 6 in Chessington World of Adventure. He ran into a giant play /adventure house before I had a second to stop him or follow. I tore in after him and couldn’t find him anywhere. Turned out that he had scared himself when he realised he was on his own and run back out to my DPs who were with us. Which then started a farce of my Dad trying to find me as I was now the lost one. I well remember the terror of him disappearing in a second though.

So, yes, reins every time. And failing that, chains and a padlock.

I used to sharpie my number on ds once he was out of reins so that he was returnable. And at any event we'd talk about who he should go to if lost/lost us.

On a busy beach, reins and an extendable dog lead would let her have freedom to move around by you, but without you having to have your eyes on her every second