There was a recent thread about a 4 year old girl who got out of the house...

[Pilchardnpoppy]

Do you think this was her?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2209834/Girl-wandering-streets-4-30am-clutching-teddy-bear-asking-drink.html

Daily Mail.. Sorry

I just saw this on fb, hopefully there's an innocent explanation to it.

This thread will go...

Yes what happened to it

Golly! thank god she was found by a decent member of the public.

reminds me of a news story from round here - when we first moved to this village, a boy from the next village, aged about 6, got out of his bedroom window and decided to go for a bike ride in his pyjammas to a friend or relatives house in the middle of the night.
he was seen and reported by several concerned motorists, some of who were scared of approaching a lone child for fear of being suspected, one of whom had the good sense to tail the child and thus protect the unlit bike from other traffic, till the police arrived. he had cycled several miles from home - if I thought there was the remotest possibility of any of my Dc doing that i would never sleep again!

She said on her thread earlier that was not them.

Some kids are escape artists. The likelihood of her running into a 'bad' man are very very small.

And 'don't talk to strangers' is outdated and dangerous.

The child was returned to her mother. I am sure it was an accident.

With the best will in the world children will escape sometimes. They just will. Just today a friend and perfectly wonderful mother was telling me about when her ds1 managed to unlock the door and she had to retrieve him from the middle of the road. So far my dcs have not escaped thankfully and my doors are so bloody stiff I doubt they would manage to turn the key even if they got it but my dd is a stubborn thing and once she gets an idea in her head NOTHING will stop her so if in the middle of the night she decided to go for a walk and not wake me then she probably would.

No - the OP said that it wasn't her child. Must have been an unfortunate coincidence.

reminds me of a friend who went upstairs to run a bath for her ds(3). when she went downstairs to get him the door was open and he was gone. she found him around the corner in the local play park, naked, playing with the other children.

me and my brother escaped, aged 1 and 2, in the middle of the afternoon. Apparently we were found naked playing in a puddle by an old lady, i have a vague recollection that she gave us cookies and milk. Point being that these things do happen :)

I made a break for it when I was two. Tried to cross a dual carriageway to the park. Apparently a policeman was called who took me round the houses until someone claimed me

These things happen, even when reasonable precautions are taken.

She was apparently very chatty and friendly to the man who found her, which would indicate she has been well looked after...maybe she's one of those little Houdiinis?

One of my DD's nursery friends did this at 4 too. Her parents and older sister heard nothing. She took herself down the shops at 1 in the morning. Teenagers hanging about the shops (usually considered troublemakers) took her to the police station.
After that her parents slept with the front door key under their pillows.
These things happen as everyone else has said.

I agree these things can easily happen. My DC could have found a key and let themselves out of the house at 4 am if they really wanted to. Most children don't want to go out, though do they. Raiding the biscuits and watching strange TV early morning TV is sometimes more like late night TV IME) is the worst my children have done.

It can happen so easily, most kids wouldn't consider but a few do.

DS#1 was an escapologist. We ended up putting an alarm system on the house that told you which door/window was being opened because he would get out no matter what we did.

Of course this is innocent - I am surprised by all the negative reactions on the Daily Mail page implying her mother was in a drug induced stupor... it was 4.30am! If the lock isn't high up, the kid can open it at 4. I'd actually rather my kids can open the front door, in case of fire. I am sure after it was explained to her that she must never, ever do that again, she will be fine. Very lucky that the guy was a good type, but then, how many bad types are there anyway? If you read the Daily Mail everyone is a predator, but in real life I doubt this is the case.

DS was an escape artist. The scary thing is that you don't know they are capable of it until they actually do it.

DS decided to take his friend out to the shops to get some sweets when he was having a sleep over at their house. The Mum was white as a sheet when I turned up to take him home.

That is awful to have it in the Daily Mail. The man who found her, and his wife sound quite unpleasant. Some people seem to like to think the worst of others.

I like how they quote the wife, wtf? She wasn't involved, why not just have the blokes view? Of but of course men = peedos women = child protectors.

I can perfectly imagine dd doing something of that ilk when she's a but bigger. She's an escapologist and will take off if the door is left open.

My nephew was a spectacular little escape artist in his day. By the end of a long weekend he spent with me as a three year old, I had to set both of my herding dogs on him at all times, even when I thought he was fast asleep -- and that just to have any hope of my own sanity. My sister had none left, for that matter. Her other three offspring? They never tried to make for the hills even once.

Said nephew's PFB is now three years old, and she's the fulfillment of that classic parental curse, 'I hope you have kids just like you!' I've suggested herding dogs, but this got me an exasperated look.

My eldest has escaped twice.

Because of their autism, our house is locked up like fort knox. At the time, we were living in a cottage with a 5 ft wall around it and the front and 8 ft at the back. And the only access - through a 5ft metal gate.

We kept all windows and doors locked, including bathroom and kitchen! and kept the keys on us. We kept the gate chained and padlocked.

I made the mistake of opening the tiny top window in the dining room, thinking he could never get through that!

Went to change my younger son's nappy. Came back - no elder child. Frantic doesn't begin to cover it! I thought there's no way he could be outside, everything's locked. Then saw the chair at the dining room window. No, there's no way. And there's no way he could get out of the garden. He's a toddler and it's a 5ft wall and gate.

My husband found him walking down the main street through the village.

The second time, I have no idea how he even got out! but he got out, scaled the wall again and wandered into the little shop and I got him back over the gate again. We had the police round. The shop (rightly) reported it.

I showed them my big bunch of keys, pointed to the big wall and the padlocked gate and showed them my two autistic children and my one of me. And they went away and we never heard anything more.

So trust me, it can happen, even when you truly think you have done everything possible to prevent it.