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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:
Bear65 · 09/08/2021 19:08

You must be, rightly so, very proud. I have a toddler, and the thought of him being lost on his own and how frightened he would be makes me feel sick. I could only pray that someone as compassionate, quick thinking and mature as your son would be find him.

Xenia · 09/08/2021 19:14

Well done to the boy. About 15 years ago I found a toddler by a very very busy road on his own. I waited near him but no one turned up. luckily the police station was near by so I took him over there. No one else did anything so I am glad I did as that could have been my child. Later the police called to let me know he had escaped from his house and his parents had now collected him. These toddlers can be quite clever at escaping houses sometimes!

MidsummerMimi · 09/08/2021 19:20

What a Hero.Your son showed great presence of mind.
He kept the toddler safe, raised an appropriate alarm and has been well able to explain the situation and assist the police.

Sunshinedrops85 · 09/08/2021 19:23

You raised a brilliant boy.

gabsdot45 · 09/08/2021 19:25

I've thought of another one. My friends 2 year old got out of the garden and was missing for 40 minutes, just last summer. He had climbed over the gate. The police were called. Everyone was looking for him, eventually he was found on a building site, 10 minutes walk away. He'd climbed under the fence.
He had a fine adventure though, so much so that he got out again a few days later and was discovered heading in the same direction.

WonderingFree · 09/08/2021 19:26

Well done to your lad and fantastic to hear a positive about today’s young people they really are amazing.

Trulyhadenough · 09/08/2021 19:29

So frightening for the toddler but what a kind, intelligent boy you have .

Dontphunkwithmyheart · 09/08/2021 19:46

@CityCommuter bit desperate for a bit of attention aren’t you, it’s none of her business what happened and only a truly entitled person would start phoning for an update. And it’s blasé, if your going to make judgements at least spell correctly.

Well done to your son OP, you’ve clearly done a brilliant job Smile

HalzTangz · 09/08/2021 19:46

Well done to your son.

This is the second time I've read this week a toddler strayed from home in just a nappy. First one mum was in hospital, dad had collapsed with suspected heart failure, toddler got out and made a 15 minute walk to Aldi before someone stepped in the help the tot out

BertieBotts · 09/08/2021 19:51

He did exactly the right thing bringing the child to a known place of safety rather than approaching unknown adults. Unknown adults are a good second resort if a known place of safety is not available.

DH was the escaping toddler when he was about 3. They lived in a farm cottage and he used to wander to the bottom of the (big, winding) garden, climb up to the top of the gate and swing back and forth until the latch loosened at which point he would go off taking the biggest dog with him. MIL and FIL would notice he was missing after a while and phone the police. When it happened the third time the police became exasperated and said they didn't believe they didn't know how he was getting out. MIL reckons he was a little nightmare but I can't help but think that it's lax supervision for a 3yo to be able to get to the end of the garden with a dog before anyone notices either the toddler or dog are missing!

I have to say, we don't lock the door when we are at home and DS2 can easily open it. But to be perfectly honest if it was locked he is also quite capable of taking a chair to find the key and unlocking it. He's seen us do it enough times and I think he would be able to manage if he was determined enough. We live in a flat so he'd then have to navigate the stairs which should slow him down enough for us to reach him. We have put an extra lock on the balcony door but other than that there's not actually much else we could do. I also worry about fire escape, so I think on balance it's safer to leave the door unlocked from the inside.

whynotwhatknot · 09/08/2021 19:52

Well done junior royal what a lovely boy you have

My dh apprntly was an escape artist climbed out his window once several times out the door i dont know how hes still here really

Debinaround · 09/08/2021 19:54

What a little superstar @HerRoyalRisesAgain , you must be so proud.

Don't know why anyone would think this is made up, it used to happen quite a lot in the shopping centre I used to work in. I was talking to the security guard from Apple and she said that parents would tell their kids to go there to play on the iPads while they shopped elsewhereShock. She said they had to get the police out for some of the little ones because they were too young to tell them their names so they could put it on the tannoy. Sad

ChaToilLeam · 09/08/2021 20:05

You’ve got a good lad there, OP, great presence of mind!

Kirstyhewlett2018 · 09/08/2021 20:09

Aww well done to your son! I bet you couldn’t be prouder bless him! You’ve done a great job raising him mumma!

slapmyarseandcallmemary · 09/08/2021 20:13

What an amazing boy 😊

ChristmasTree999 · 09/08/2021 20:27

Well done to your son! I’ve also stopped an awol nappy-only toddler from stepping into a busy road - sounds like it’s pretty common!

LowlandLucky · 09/08/2021 20:42

What a lovely lad

TheWeeDonkeyFella · 09/08/2021 20:46

Well done to your son, that's a sensible young man you have there.

It's interesting to see so many with similar experiences. I too found one years ago - well not so much found as spotted her on her little tricycle about to ride out into a busy road of traffic just in time to pull her back by her hood. The were other people around but sadly none had taken steps to stop or help her and she was only about 3. Police came and we drove around for a few minutes (me and little 'un in back of the police car) to see if she could point to where she lived as the call came in reporting her missing. The road I found her was nearly a mile from her home and she must have crossed busy roads to get there. The mum was crying when we arrived at their house but the little girl didn't have a care in the world!

Dontwatchfootball · 09/08/2021 20:55

Good lad. Just to put the other side of the story - my aunts kids climbed out of their window (very high, no idea that a 2 and 3 year old could reach) when they were supposed to be having a nap and went to investigate the hole in the road where they were digging it up. Both in their nappys as they were having a nap on a hot day. The first my aunt knew was when someone knocked on the door to ask if she knew they were playing in the road.

JudgeJ · 09/08/2021 21:00

Just remembered that I did this back in about 1952, I'd have been 4, my mother had gone into the bakery and left me standing by my brother's pram, as one did then, (don't pass out, clutching your pearls!).
She very calmly walked across the road, quite busy even the, and went into the Infant school to be met by a very worried Headmistress, I was sitting in her office drinking milk! I told them that I wanted to start school so the Headmistress made a big deal of putting my name down.

brushlaptop · 09/08/2021 21:04

Your son is amazing ❤️

WiddlinDiddlin · 09/08/2021 21:11

I remember leading an escape party from primary school, infant class, we'd been there only a few weeks and me and two others (so, our entire class, it was a TINY village school) nipped out the back gate of the school yard and up the steps and along the ginnel before anyone noticed us.

Must have been morning break or lunchtime - anyway someone gardening in a house at the end of teh ginnel saw us and came out and suggested we probably ought not be there, given we are 4/5 years old... and herded us back and took us into school where to our utter surprise we HAD been missed (as I say, we were the entire of the youngest class!)...

I don't remember why we did it, but I do recall it was very much my idea!

Blondeshavemorefun · 09/08/2021 21:25

What a caring son uou have brought up /made aware

Lucky he found him and not someone who would harm

Weird tho similar story in papers

transformandriseup · 09/08/2021 21:34

Sadly these event do happen. Local to my parents a toddler wandered out on to a roundabout and was killed. He was in the garden worked out the gate and was on the main road in a few minutes.

How awful Shock I can see how it could happen though.

I often worry about my opposite neighbour's two year old who plays in the garden by himself for ages at a time. They have no lock on their gate and a low wall, plus we live on a busy main road with tractors hurtling by and tons of tourist traffic at the moment.

Vintagevixen · 09/08/2021 21:36

Something similarish happened to me when my DD was about 2.

Was driving with XP when (to his credit!) he spotted a toddler wandering freely up the pavement leading to a slip road up to to a VERY busy 3 lane A road in London. He screeched to a halt, I got out of the passenger seat and scooped her up.

It was obvious where she had come from - a swinging garden gate was open on one of the houses near to the main road. So I carried her into there to find a very shocked dad who had left her asleep in her buggy in the garden while he put the groceries away, but clearly not secured the back gate properly. He hadn't even realised that she had left the garden.

That little girl would now be about 10 or 11 and is probably only alive because of my XP's vigilance - I'm sure it would have ended very badly if he hadn't spotted her. That road is virtually a motorway disguised as an A road.

Bet her dad didn't admit what had happened to the mother - but also bet he made very sure the garden gate was secure after that!

So it does happen.