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Original poster

My son found a toddler

410 replies

HerRoyalRisesAgain · 08/08/2021 19:24

My 12 year old son went out with his friends around 4.30.

He came home at 6.10, carrying a toddler in just his nappy, already on the phone to the police!
He'd found him wandering around our estate by himself in just a nappy (it's windy and rainy here) He tried to ask him where his mummy or daddy were but the toddler has just grabbed him and clung to his leg, so he's pulled out his phone, dialled 999 then picked up said toddler and brought him home so that he had somewhere warm to wait for the police.

I got a blanket for the little one, and got him warmed up. He was very scared bless him, but receptive to having a cuddle and letting us help him have some water. (My youngest is 6, so no sippy cups)

Police turned up just now with social services and took him with them. Theyre going to try and find his parents and take care of him, have him checked over etc.

The police and the social worker massively praised my son and said he was immensely brave and sensible to do what he did.
He took the officer out and showed him exactly where he had found the toddler and gave as much info as he could about what happened when he found him.

I hope the little one is OK, and glad he's safe with social services now.

I am also immensely proud of my son. He's so amazing. I would have panicked at that age and knocked on the nearest door for help.
Hes just jumped into action straight away and decided to get him warm and safe.

OP posts:
Carpedimum · 09/08/2021 17:37

Well done to your DS, this happened to me so I know how stressful it was! I was driving to work & passed a child just in a nappy & ladies shoes. I went back & tried to talk to him but he was too young for much language. I was very wary of being accused of child snatching, so I just held his hand and walked him to the nearest house, they didn’t know him. I then saw a postman & asked him if he recognised the child, he didn’t but pointed me towards a house where he said the door was ajar. No response to a knock or the bell. I very gingerly went inside & could hear a woman obviously on the phone. To cut a long story short, right house, devastated mother who thought child was in bed with father. She was oblivious to the ‘escape’. It shook me to the core though, I missed my train too!

Monstermunch67 · 09/08/2021 17:37

I ended up running down the middle of a road in very busy area when I was a preschooler. I was supposed to be with my older sisters, but I must have decided not to tag along. They thought I'd gone back inside, my dad thought I was with them and I ended up chasing his car I'd spotted, as he drove to collect my mother from work.

Some lovely people (who I described as hippys at the time) found me and waved down a passing police car. The officer gave me something to eat and I was given a glass of milk at the station. It's odd what you remember. I don't recall being scared once I'd been picked up, but do recall crying as dad drove away. My mother was absolutely fuming and embarrassed when they arrived to collect me.

Harleyband · 09/08/2021 17:44

I did the same thing only I was about 8 and didn't handle it nearly as well as your son. I brought the toddler home (no mobile phones in those days) and my mum called the police. They did ask why I hadn't taken her to the police station which was just down the road from where I found her. It honestly never occurred to me! Those were also the days when you could go to the library alone as an 8 year old without anyone batting an eyelid.

saffy2 · 09/08/2021 17:48

  1. what kind of a moron thinks it’s a better idea for a child with a vulnerable smaller child to knock on strangers doors. I literally can’t roll my eyes any harder. Complete idiots.

  2. I’ve also found a toddler. She ran into the road at the end of my street just as I was turning the corner with my pushchair. I grabbed her to stop her getting hit by a car and then expected a parent to be running behind her to catch her. But there wasn’t. She was also in just a nappy and no shoes. I imagined she hadn’t come far but didn’t want to knock on all the doors, because…sense, she couldn’t talk, am I just to trust the persons word for it that she was theirs?! 🙄
    Anyway, as we began to go to my house for me to call the police, I passed a wide open gate and a wide open door. The living room was a family living room, so I went up and poked my head round, and on the mantel piece was a picture of this girl and an older boy, whom was sat on the sofa watching tv! So I rang the doorbell and the mum came down. Basically the older boy had opened the front door and the girl had gone out. Mum had no idea. And again, to those saying who wouldn’t know their toddler had gone, I leave my toddler downstairs all the time while I’m on the loo/making the beds/putting washing away etc etc etc etc etc. It must be nice to be so perfect eh!!!

Well done to your son op. And thank god he didn’t knock on strangers doors 👌🏼

BoffinMum · 09/08/2021 18:01

What a terrific son you have, OP!

My mother went wandering at the age of about 2 or 3. Apparently she walked 3 miles to the local dressmaker's though a forest. It was a route she had often done with her mother, and just took herself off. No phones much in those days, so everyone had total heart failure until someone worked out who she was and where she was supposed to be, and brought her back. It happens. (My kids have also made breaks for freedom, but they didn't get as far).

Dancingbugbadge · 09/08/2021 18:06

Like everyone else has said you should be so proud of raising such an amazing child. Well done to your son.

AllTheSingleLadiess · 09/08/2021 18:09

You must be so proud of your son 👏
What a superstar Thanks

impossible · 09/08/2021 18:10

Good for your son - very impressive! And good for you not pestering for a follow up. You would be unlikely to get an update in any case, as you say, for safeguarding reasons.

I think many people have no idea of the strange and often disturbing things that happen in ordinary life (and don't make the news). Similar things have happened to me, with no follow up.

Whenigrowupiwanttobea · 09/08/2021 18:15

Just to add my voice to the many saying "Well done"!!!
I think your son is incredible and showed a strong ethical personal code.
He took the toddler to the best place of safety he knew.. home where he knew there would be an adult who could help! Absolutely the right thing to do! He was that toddler's Guardian Angel!!! Well done!

DeltaFlyer · 09/08/2021 18:15

My friends 2 year old made his way out onto the street a few years ago. She worked nights and was snoozing on the sofa. Door locked but she'd left the key in the lock. He worked out how to unlock it.
Luckily their neighbour spotted him and took him home.

Just a few months ago near me a toddler was rescued by a teen after falling into a canal, he'd managed to escape the garden and make his way to the towpath.

I don't let my ds out into the garden without me and doors stay locked and keys up high.

Usernamerequired · 09/08/2021 18:17

Wow!!! Poor little one i hope all is ok for him. I know of people with UPVC doors left unlocked so child just walks out. I know, should have been watched/what were the parents doing? etc. If you search ‘toddler found wandering in snow Northern Ireland’ it brings up quite a lot of results from where i live.
Well done to your son, very mature actions

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 09/08/2021 18:19

Well done to your son! When my son was a toddler we went to visit friends who'd just moved to a new house. We didn't realise that their back garden had no solid wall/fence between their garden and their neighbour's. Our son wandered off and found a gap between bushes that let him get through to the next door garden and from there he wandered out to the road in front of the houses. Fortunately, it was a very quiet side road and we realised very fast, so found him very quickly. Terrifying few moments, though!

I must say my first thought when I read your OP was of Jamie Bulger. Sad My daughter was a very young baby when the first news reports started coming through that a toddler had wandered off from his mother in a shopping centre. That story hit me very, very hard, given that those boys were just looking for any very young child. Just awful.

Original poster
HerRoyalRisesAgain · 09/08/2021 18:24

Ive ordered DS1 some manga which I know he'll enjoy as a well done gift.
He says it's no big deal, but he's been extra caring towards his younger siblings today so I think it must have shaken him.

OP posts:
Ddot · 09/08/2021 18:32

My neighbour has a little girl who decided to pop to the park. No shoes! she just opened the door when no one was looking and vanished. All hell broke loose. Mam dad two brothers running up and down street shouting, police called. A kind lady spotted her and took her to the petrol garage, over the road was the park 🤯 it ended well as said lady saw brothers running around panic stricken and told them where she was.

cherish123 · 09/08/2021 18:33

Well done to your son. Very mature and sensible.

Ddot · 09/08/2021 18:34

Neighbour keeps door locked all the time now. Well done to your lovely son

cavalier · 09/08/2021 18:39

Omg how horrible and well done your lovely son ! He’s a credit to you .. that poor baby . Makes me cry at the thought 😢

DailyMaui · 09/08/2021 18:44

Well done your son. I hope he enjoys his manga - he totally deserves a nice treat.

My son went walkabout when he was three. We'd split up to go shopping so my mum had him for a while. I walked into a shop as my mum walked out with DS and while she decided to double back and come inside with me, my son kept walking... and walking and walking. I realised he was missing and was running all over the place, in every shop, trying to find him. He was lost for half an hour and I was so distressed. Longest half hour of my life.

I'd been drumming it into him that if he was ever lost to find someone who looked like granny - thinking an older woman would likely help. He took it literally and when he realised he was lost, he went looking for someone who looked exactly like my mum.

We eventually found him half a mile away and with a woman who bore a striking resemblance to my mother. They were both standing outside another shopping centre. He had told her that he was lost but if they looked for a woman with glasses and hair like hers then he would be found again!

Oblomov21 · 09/08/2021 18:44

Well done your son. My Ds2 is similar age, I hope he'd behave as sensibly.

Bythemillpond · 09/08/2021 18:46

Dh let himself out of the house when he was little. The back door was only ever kept on a latch when they were in. Dh actually closed the door behind him.
His parents had put him to bed and were in the living room watching tv.
He crossed the road to go to his friends house who had a sandpit in the garden.

Parents went upstairs and popped their head into his room to check on him before going to bed to find he wasn’t there.

They searched the house, looked in cupboards and under beds but he was no where to be found. MIL was running up and down the road shouting his name.

Woke the whole road up. Police were called.

Parents of dhs friend just happened to glance out of their kitchen window into their back garden and saw him playing in the sand pit.

Jenasaurus · 09/08/2021 18:46

My DS escaped when he was 3, we had recently moved house, just down the road from where his brother went to school, I used to play bridge along side the school one night a week, and my Ex looked after the 3 DC, I went to the toilet while there and for some reason looked through the front door and there in the porch was my DS, He had put his wellies on and escaped through the side door of the new house, crossed a busy main road and was standing outside looking in at me! I dont normally use the toilet when I am there but for some reason I went that evening, I called his dad up and said, wheres DS and he said, hes in bed, I said "no he isnt, hes here with me!" His dad was furious with him, but I was cross with my EX it was up to him to keep him safe for that one night a week.

CharityDingle · 09/08/2021 18:49

We eventually found him half a mile away and with a woman who bore a striking resemblance to my mother. They were both standing outside another shopping centre. He had told her that he was lost but if they looked for a woman with glasses and hair like hers then he would be found again!

Aww, I love this!
OP, I have already said upthread, great presence of mind for a twelve year old. Well done to him.

LatteLady · 09/08/2021 18:56

I was going to a friend's funeral with my sister and we were driving along a dual carriage way when we saw two small toddlers crossing the first road to play on the large grass verge in the middle. I screamed stop the car, queue emergency braking, I told her to direct traffic and I legged it after the boys, caught one and another older lady ran down the second boy, both were giggling uproarously. Transpired the second lady spotted them out of her front room window as she was ironing... I was dressed in a black pencil skirt and rather high heels, my sister reckoned it was the fastest she had ever seen me run.

We made it to the funeral, but I still wonder how the boys escaped and where from...

gabsdot45 · 09/08/2021 18:57

My friends twin toddlers got themselves out of their car seats and out of the car after she had put them in and gone inside to finish getting ready.
They were found by a motorist wandering on a busy road beside their house . He stopped the car and got them off the road and found my friend who was looking for them.
She said it was her lowest moment in parenting. She felt totally out of her depth.

Ellmau · 09/08/2021 18:58

Well done your DS, and I hope the toddler is OK and either reunited with family or otherwise cared for.