DD2 took afew years off my life tonight. AIBU to ask you for happy ending stories of mislaid offspring?

[NorthernLurker]

Dd2 (who is nearly flipping 15 btw) was helping at school open evening. I said I would pick her up 'at the front of school' at 6.30. I was a couple of minutes late home so dh set off to get her. He waited over thirty minutes then went in to find her, only to discover she had left on time at 6.30. I rang one of her friends, he said he'd seen her heading out of the school grounds, no idea where she was. It was way past the length of time it would have taken her to walk home. I was starting to panic and chucked dd3 in car (dd1 was out) and set off to drive the route she would walk home. Meanwhile dh was rallying teachers who were also ringing round. Dd2 is sensible (as in not likely to be out drinking) and law abiding. It just didn't make any sense!

As I drove towards school I was scanning the streets for her and finally on the corner before the school exit I saw her. Screeched to halt and shouted 'what the heck was she doing'. She shouted back 'where have you beeeeeeeeen' So I ordered her back in to school where we met dh. Turns out she thought she was in the right place because that's where I've picked her up from before as the school buses are in the school grounds at 3.30. After hours we've always picked up from the school drive itself. It never occurred to us that a perfectly bright 14 yr old could think out the gate and on a corner was 'the front of school'. She didn't have her phone with her because she isn't supposed to have it at school at all. A mistake we will not make again.......She must have been going out of one gate as dh drove in the other (one way system) so he didn't see her.

Anyway so a few tears all round and a feeling of relief which is still hitting me.

So what's happened to everybody else?

We lost 3 year old ds at a huge garden with lots of ponds and wells. It was awful. He had wandered off from the group whilst we were having a cup of tea at the cafe. The whole party split up to look for him, I went into the big house as he has been wittering on about going in there all afternoon. He was found after about fifteen minutes in the adventure playground, right over the other side of the park, about a ten minute walk away. He was most offended when we talked about not running away and getting lost, as he WASN'T lost, he knew where he was

I lost my DC twice in one already extremely stressful week once.

First at Ikea. We were in the children's section and suddenly they weren't. I went straight to a member of staff who calmly activated their lost child protocol (all exits discreetly covered, security staff sweep entire store) and asked what they looked like and were wearing. Fortunately we had the class bear with us so had taken dozens of photos already and I could show her exactly. Security located them at the top of the escalators - "are you ? Your mummy is waiting for you in the children's department". They carefully shepherded them back without touching them once to where I was waiting, having radioed through. It was a fantastic response and a great protocol.

Two days later, village fete, fetching DC1 from supervised sports thing to go to supervised music thing. DH is overseas so I am flying solo. Acquaintance stops me to say hello; DC2 doesn't stop. No response to shouting because it's so loud. Dozy acquaintance says oh dear. I say through gritted teeth where are the tannoy announcements coming from? and go there. They announce that who has lost his mummy should look by the tea cups (fairground ride) and literally one minute later he arrives scared but indignant.

HALF AN HOUR LATER DC1 finishes supervised music thing and decides to go back to supervised sports thing without telling me. When I found him there I removed him from the game in progress.

We didn't go out much again that summer. Thank fuck DC3 was captive in the pram!

Lost dd2 in Legoland and caused it to be patrolled at the exit and all children had to show hands to exit. That was because I had said her most distinguishing feature was she was missing her left hand. Was quite impressed with them, but not sure what everyone on the exit felt!

Dh lost dd2 AND ds in the park when they were about 3 and 6. He took his eyes off them and they disappeared. He then walked 10 minutes home to tell me. Why on earth he didn't think of using his mobile to call me I don't know.
We had to dash back to the park.
Added to the complication they'd seen him leave (were making a "home" inside a bush) so assumed it was time to leave and so set off themselves. They chose their route to pick blackberries and were found about 20 minutes later stripping the bushes and very happy and totally unconcerned.

I found a girl about 2/3yo on her scooter once. I was leaving the house to pick ds up from school and this little girl was scooting along the path calling "mummy". So I stopped and asked if she was okay, and she said she'd lost her mummy. So firstly I called school to ask if they knew anyone had a younger sister with her name, and to say why I was going to be late picking ds up. Then she sat on our doorstep while I made brief sorties along the various paths to see if I could see anyone, without going out of her sight.
After 20-30 minutes I decided I better phone the police, and was just dialling when I heard a desperate shout, and I called back with the name of our street. Minutes later a mother I knew appeared in complete state, not the little girl's mother, but her friend. She'd come from the park and they'd been searching for her. Because I knew her, and the girl greeted her as a friend I was totally happy to let her go with her, not sure quite what I'd have done if I hadn't known her, think I'd have had to go to find the mum.

Lucky for her that I was there as she was heading for a A-road and would have been off the estate fairly shortly and would really have been hard to find. Also luckily, she didn't seem too worried, more a bit cross that mummy wasn't following her!

My mum has told me this story....

When I was about 2 I escaped from our enclosed back garden. We were in army quarters with a nice park over a busy main road.

Mum noticed I was gone and went crazy. My uncle was also visiting on leave from the French foreign legion and started searching for me too.

He found me just ready to cross the busy main road, picked me up and started carrying me home. Then the other army wives saw him. They didn't know him and thought he had taken me. Cue them grabbing me off him and starting to lay in to him while others ran to get the MP. Only when my mum heard the commotion and explained it was her brother did they stop!

Apparently he had never been so scared in his life!

My eldest DB went missing in Spain when he was about 3. They found him about half an hour later, sitting at the bar with some locals, sampling tapas and dipping into the sherry. His tastes haven't got any cheaper 50-odd years later.

When I was twenty-six I got a new job in Liverpool. My lovely new colleagues suggested we go out after work. I got home at midnight to find two police officers on my doorstep. My Mum had panicked - I had moved to a new city where I didn't know anyone and I wasn't answering my phone (didn't bother bringing my brick-mobile to work as I hadn't thought I'd need it). The officers were rather bemused at being sent to check on an adult who'd simply gone out for an evening - as if they didn't have better things to be doing!

I wasn't going to post as I have previously but after Indepedentfriends input and seeing who the OP is I have to show support and solidarity.

Lost four year old. DH took him to loo and when he came into the shop where I was with our other kids, ds kept walking. Shop assistants - perfect. Got it immediately and watched Dd and ds1. Other shoppers - shit. All ignored my frantic shouting of my son's name. Found him when I went to the security guard to ask for help. Ds had stood alone outside the shop and they took him in.

Lost another child in the toy shop. Assistant ignored me when I said I had lost my child. Lovely grandma talked to me until I had calmed down once I'd found him as I was in a lot bit of a state.

My brother once escaped from the back garden. I think he must have been about 1ish? walking but still a baby.

Anyway, he was napping under a parasol, mum was with him but went inside to answer the phone. Neighbour popped round - with DB in hand. Turns out he's crawled under the garden gate, crossed the road and gone into their garden! Dad put a board under the gate after that.

I lost DS3 in the house the other day. Put him to bed, then heard a noise and went upstairs to tell him to get back in. He gets out of bed about three times before finally settling down usually.

Anyway, he wasn't there. Looked in the other boys room - not there. In the bathroom - not there. I'm slightly perplexed then thinking he can't have sneaked downstairs can he?

Can't find him ANYWHERE in the house and front and back doors are closed and locked. I was shouting his name and crying my eyes out, knowing he must just be hiding but still utterly panicked.

He was hiding in the coats behind the door. God it was awful.

I was on holiday with my family and godparents and their daughter. The men were left to look after us two girls whilst the mums went shopping. Half an hour later we were carried back to them by two topless German women who had discovered us drifting out to sea. Apparently dad's greatest concept was how to remove me from this German woman without accidentally feeling her up - not that he and godfather had nearly let their two girls drown or anything...

*concern, doh.

DD who was 3 at the time went 'missing' on the way home from SN Nursery. Her regular driver was on holiday and they had put a relief driver on the run ( a different one from the one who picked her up to take her to nursery). She usually arrived home just before 3.30pm. When it got to 4pm I started to worry a little so rang the school. They said she had definitely left at usual time but would investigate. I then had LA on the phone who said they had found out who supply driver was and had tried his mobile - no answer. They had rung his home and his wife said he was out on a school taxi run. I had DS (age 1) at the time at home with me. As time went on I became more and more panic stricken - DD has complex needs and is non verbal.

At approx 4.45pm I noticed a car trawling the streets near our house who looked like it was looking for an address. I rang neighbour to watch DS whilst I went running down the road, just as the car left the estate. Fortunately it came back again and I spotted DD in the back - by this time it was 1 1/2 hrs after her normal arrival time.

Turned out the driver - who had 2 other nursery children to take home to a town 8 miles away had not been told that he must bring DD home first, so he had gone to their houses first. On top of that he had been given our address on a scrap of paper - the address he had been given didn't exist - they'd got the road name wrong. Ironically he had stopped and asked a neighbour aroound the corner, who was in her garden, if she knew where the address was - which of course she didn't. If he had asked her if she knew where DD lived then she would have told him!

I think Shire hall transport department saw their arses that day and I aged about 20 years in that 1 1/2 hours.

DS2 has ASD and was non-verbal till he was 5. We were in M&S and queuing to pay, turn around and he's gone. He never responded to his name being called and would go with anyone who offered him food. We ran around the shop calling him but no sign. Security came over and were brilliant - called the shopping centre security team who came rushing in just as we found him - in the food section, typical!
We also lost him a couple of years ago at the beach - we'd stopped to look at a seaplane and he'd not. We went the opposite way, and then there was a tannoy announcement. They asked DS where his parents were and he said "a long way" we found him in the harbour masters office eating a huge roll, so he was happy!

DS5 I've lost so many times I've lost count. We go to town, he gets distracted or wants to go to another shop and he goes. Once I lost him 3 times in one day, he's impossible! He has ADHD, so he's so easily distracted! he doesn't get upset either, so doesn't look like an upset child wandering round lost, just a child staring at puddles/toys/random switches in shops!

A friend and I, aged about 12, went off on the bus to the ice rink. Friend's mum had given us bus fare/skating money and told us what bus to get.
Turned out she got the bus number wrong and we ended up miles away on the other side of town at the bus terminus. It was pre-mobile phone days so we wandered for ages trying to find a working phone box, but eventually spoke to friend's mum and worked out what bus to get back.

Except we got on the wrong bus again, ended up on a massive detour through the city centre. The bus we were on then crashed into the bus in front, and we all had to get off and wait for another bus.

By this time it was dark and we were hours late.
When we got back to friend's house, we could hear her poor mum on the phone to the police, describing us.

She didn't hear us come in - so for some unknown reason we thought it would be an excellent wheeze to sneak in and hide, without telling her we were back.

Instead, we crept upstairs and picked up the other phone extension, listening in on her phone call to the police and stifling giggles. Eventually we snuck back downstairs and jumped out at her, shouting 'Boo!'.

Couldn't understand why the poor lady was so upset.

I losr DC3 (then only 2 yrs old) at the Jardin De Sports in Centre Parcs....thankfully what can only be described as a crack team of older ladies mobilised and found her. They were amazing.

I lost dd when she was 2, in a clothes shop in a shopping centre. She was hiding in the rails of clothes and then suddenly she was gone, couldn't find her anywhere. Shop staff were less than helpful and just told me to go and find a shopping centre security guard. I eventually found her, she had gone into the children's section and was trying on a coat and admiring herself in the mirror, not even remotely aware of the panic she had caused. It was probably less than 10 minutes, but they were heart stopping and I still remember that sick feeling.

I lost her again when she about 4. We were in Mothercare on Oxford St, she ran into the lift and the doors shut before I could grab her. Dh was with us so he ran downstairs while I stayed on that floor. Luckily there were only 2 floors, it went down to the basement though where a member of staff found her and brought her back up.

We lost a child in a very busy part of London once, in the rush hour. A case of each parent thinking she was with the other one. She was found by a lovely and sensible businessman who waited with her. Aged me about a year for every minute she was missing!

At the age of 4 I triggered a small mountain search . I was quite happily playing with pebbles by a stream, having wandered off from a picnic, but apparently quite a few people had been rallied to search for me.

I lost DD2 at home once. It's not a huge house, it's a smallish flat- tiny kitchen and bathroom, lounge and 3 bedrooms. DD2 was a toddler, must have been around 2, and was happily playing in front of ceebeebies. I popped out of the room for a minute and when I returned she wasn't there. Wasn't worried as the flat was toddler-proofed so she could wander. I walked round all the rooms- no sign. Checked again, looking behind curtains etc, calling out the whole time- still no sign.

After about 5 minutes which felt like forever I had checked all doors, windows, under the bed etc. I was pretty much hysterical. Finally checked inside DD1's wardrobe for the second time and there she was, hiding behind all the dresses. Absolutely silent. Little monkey.

This bloody thread is aging me!
Not list mine yet but when I was 3 I slipped out of my house and walked a mile in the middle of December to the bakery on our local high street. Apparently my dad had promised to take me and older sister but I'd had enough of waiting.
I can remember my poor dad running into the bakery shouting 'how the bloody he'll were you going to pay for those?!' I was just stood at the counter chatting to the staff with a bag of iced buns
I must have been missing about 45 minutes before my dad realised I'd made the journey solo!
Still feel bad about it!

Ceebie - most amused at your mum getting police to check on you I know how she felt

We lost DS2 a couple of weeks ago in a big garden centre. I was looking at some things with MIL. DH and FIL took DS2 to another department and basically at some point they split up and each thought the other had him. It wasn't until we met up about 10 minutes later that we realised he was missing. I was both scared and fuming because DH had not really clarified with his dad who had DS2. In that 10 minutes anything could have happened, someone could have been well away in a car with him. Luckily he was OK and he had not been scared for long. When he found there was no one he knew he went for a look at some Christmas trees with lights on in the assumption that someone would be back. It was only when a nice lady got worried that he seemed to be alone and took him to the customer service desk that he started to panic. We arrived there to report him missing just as they were about to put out an announcement over the PA system. I have never been so relieved ever, all the possible horror stories were running through my mind due to the fact that there had been time for something awful to have occurred.

DS2 is 4 and a half btw.

DDs Nan thought she had lost her recently.

DD1 swims for a club. This means she is out late several evenings a week at various local swimming pools. I drop her off, then dh or I will collect her afterwards. One evening MiL offered to pick her up. I thought 'great' so I could get dd2 and ds to bed. Dh then phoned and said FiL was getting her. Grandad then dropped her home. A full half hour later I got a call from MiL saying she had been a bit late to get there, she had first gone to the wrong pool. She had been round the changing rooms, then over to Tesco, ( why she thought DD would go to tesco to look for her nan I don't know) and back round the pool. But she didn't think to call dds phone and ask where she was.

The worst bit about my story is she wasn't mine (I was her Nanny!!). Third week of Feb 1993 - Early Learning Centre in Ealing Broadway shopping mall. I go to the till and my charge Lucy (about 2.4 years) is by my side. I'm paying and look down, gone. Nowhere to be seen, busy shop. In that single moment I truly felt total panic and horror, I couldn't find her. I can still see myself now shouting her name as I dashed round the shop. She was of course found very quickly, she had gone into an area where they showed cartoons (a little sort of booth and she was kneeling on the floor absorbed). It lasted probably two minutes but it felt like a lifetime, especially because of the awful, heartbreaking event in Liverpool just a few weeks before. I will never forget that initial feeling of pure blind terror.

stitchingmoss you should've ended that with "and they're 28 and 26 now!"

This will out me as many of my friends know this story but whatever. I would like to point out I laugh but do feel guilty about this. My DM still can't laugh.
Went to the zoo with DM, DSis, DM friend and her 3 or 4 DCs. I was 1-2 at the time, sis 6-7, other children between 5-9. We enter the bat house. One entrance, one exit and dark. I was out of the buggy,DM says she'll go straight out so buggy doesn't block the way, friend says fine. DM outside, friend emerges later with all DCs except me. DM asks where I am and is told I followed her. No sign of me. Friend then says she'll run around to the entrance and walk through and find me, DM to wait at exit with buggy and other children. I amn't found. DM thinks maybe I snuck out behind her, runs to playground area nearby, not there. Runs to petting zoo area, not there. She runs back to friend and grabs a staff member on way telling them. They start off calm and say they'll check playground and petting zoo, DM says she already has so radio comes out and all staff to look for a lost blond toddler and gates are informed not to let anyone leave with blond toddler. Bit of time goes by,police called and full search commences. After police involvement, anyone with a blond toddler is questioned. No luck. More time goes by. Enclosures are checked in case I crawled/fell in somewhere. DM frantic at this point. Zoo staff and police discuss in front of her and agree they have to make the next phone call. Suddenly Dsis is knocked over with a yelp of BOO! I had apparently decided to hide behind the door of the exit and jump out to scare her, but then realised I wanted a nap behind said door The next phone call that was about to happen was to the army for a full search/choppers.

So at least armed forces weren't being called for most stories and it does bring a laugh at some point? Esp since the zoo keeper in charge had only started that week