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Camping

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Thistledown farm - seven year old went missing

5 replies

MinimalistMommi · 31/05/2013 08:06

Thank goodness this little boy has been found:

metro.co.uk/2013/05/31/relief-as-boy-7-found-after-he-goes-missing-from-gloucestershire-campsite-3823112/

I've allowed my children to wonder off on this campsite. Now I wonder if I've been irresponsible.

OP posts:
SalomeD · 31/05/2013 08:15

Don't worry MinimalistMommi, you're not the only one!

It's great to be able to let the children run loose there and it feels so safe as it is mainly families camping. I think the problem for us was that it can get dark very, very quickly so that if they've strayed a bit too far it can be quite disorientating.

We had a frantic search for our 7 year old there last year - took us about 1/2 hour to find him which doesn't sound long but when you're worrying it feels like infinity, don't want to imagine how this poor family felt through the night.

My OH found him sitting in a circle round a campfire with about twenty women who were celebrating a 40th Birthday - he said he wanted to go back the next night as then they were having cake!

i guess one thing is to make sure the kids have a torch, those ones with a whistle look like a good idea but they tend to drive you mad blowing them all the time. Perhaps a head torch if they are still playing at dusk so that they have a better chance of getting back to the tent and you can find them more easily if they don't.

MinimalistMommi · 31/05/2013 08:18

Thank you for reassuring me Salome and great idea about the torch. Thinking back it must have been disorientating as there are so many bits of woodland on the campsite. The family must have been absolutely terrified.

OP posts:
2ofstedsin24weeksistakingthep · 31/05/2013 09:21

I'm so glad he was found safe and well. My friend uses walkie talkies with her daughter. So far I've just not let my DCs out of sight but now they are getting older know this isn't fair. Think I will be buying walkie talkies before our next trip.

hz · 31/05/2013 13:32

Made my heart lurch when I heard this this morning on the radio, how awful. I am always encouraging the kids to go off into the woods by themselves. Though we do have walkie talkies now. Thank goodness he turned up safe and well. Must have been a dreadful night for him and his family and everyone at the campsite.

snowmummy · 31/05/2013 20:36

Mine are 8 and 6 and I wonder if I'm too strict letting them go only a short distance from our camp. I check on them a lot too. I think 7 is way too young to allow a child to go off alone. I must be in the minority though. We're camping at the moment and there are children as young as about 4 wandering around unsupervised

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