Anna Sherman

Hi all,

I have 4 children (aged 19 to 6), and have lost a child two times in
the last 19 years.
Both times were in a big mall and they were fine--the first time I
dialed 999
and they transferred me to mall security who found my child in less
than 5
minutes. The second time was in a big shop and a nice lady took her
to a shop worker, who took her to the main customer service desk.

Sorry to be so long-winded...I have always taught my children to look
for a "grandma" if they get lost. I tell them that almost everyone in
the world is good, but if on the slim chance they ever run into a bad
person, the best thing to do is *bite.*

Just my .02 pence :)

Anna
Bristol, England

Deb

--- In [email protected], Anna Sherman
<as007i0152@...> wrote:
>
>> I have always taught my children to look
> for a "grandma" if they get lost.
Another possibility is to have a child look for a kid their own size
and ask that kid's mommy for assistance. Since toddler sized kids tend
to gravitate toward other kids anyway, it seems like this would be a
reasonable tack to take.

I've never had a problem with DS getting lost, partly because he's
always had a fairly large 'range' - rule of thumb was "if you can see
my eyeballs, I can see you" so he can range anywhere that my eyeballs
can spot - gives a fairly large 'roaming zone' yet still where I can
track him. When he was littler, he'd grab whatever part of me he chose
to hold - pants leg, pocket, jacket sleeve, hand, whatever - having
some measure of control over things helped. And, sometimes, rather
than hold his hand (or have him hold mine) I'd put my arm around his
shoulders, friendly-like, and we'd walk like that - and now that he's
8 he puts his arm around my waist sometimes as we walk through parking
lots and the like.

Having to let go and let him go to the men's room (he's now 8) over
the last couple years has been really hard on me, nervous-wise. When
he was first making that transition, I'd stand right nearby the door
and listen for unusual sounds and "memorize" anyone who went in or
out - relative height (my height, a little taller, tall as DH, a lot
taller, etc), coloring (dark hair, light hair, short or long hair,
facial hair, etc), clothing, etc "just in case"

One thing that we've done (DS started doing it on his own and we've
made a habit of it) is that when I needed to go to the ladies' room at
the mall, he stood just outside it (since they don't have doors any
more, just L shaped type walls to create a private space for the
stalls) he picks a song and sings or hums just loud enough for me to
hear but not really loud - so long as I can hear his hum, I know he's
right there. And I do the same when he's inside and I'm outside.

--Deb