Tips for Parents - A parent's nightmare - Lost Kids

[disneygal922]

Thanks @theluckyrabbit I will have to look into those. DD is our first and it can be quite overwhelming how many things we need to consider now that it isn't just DH and I.

 

[dotfurio]

I love the tip about photographing them at the start of the day. I never thought of that.

We purchased disposable water resistant wristbands (think of the kind you get for fair rides) that has our contact info printed on it. I also point out what employees look like and tell her if she gets lost she should look for them or go inside a shop or restaurant and find an employee there.

 

[violentlyserene]

I second the leashes. They are an absolute must for me because it's not physically safe for me to have both kids at once in a big public place (or the parking lot for that matter but I can just carry them 30 ft to a cart). They are too fast and strong. The ones we have aren't super attractive but they fit a wide range and fit under car seats so rides won't be an issue. It's the mommy 's helper brand on Amazon.

 

[bumbershoot]

She speaks fairly well but when Mommy and Daddy are lost, I can just imagine her screaming and crying, running around like a lunatic... any suggestions?

My mom was a lost kid magnet, and I am a "in the vicinity of lost kid" magnet. I have literally never, not once, seen a lost kid screaming, crying, and running around. Kids go quiet when they realize they are alone. They might cry, but they aren't moving much and they aren't screaming. That's my experience, at least.

(we watched a tiny little guy at Seaworld once...no parents around, but he didn't know that, he had his own agenda, his own plan for right then, and he didn't know he was alone...and there was a veritable ring of non-related adults casually standing around him (a big ring), not getting close (don't want a parent coming out to find someone looming over the little guy) but just making sure nothing happened. finally FINALLY the dad came racing out of the store...dad lost a few years off his life from that, but the little guy just looked up like "of course there is my person, he must have been there the whole time, and yes father I am done with my roaming" and they went off...dad didn't even know how darned many men and women there were watching out for his little dude, just making sure nothing happened to the little stranger-boy.)

Still show her cast members. There's no harm in that.

I'm guessing you aren't into babywearing? DS was 17 months our first trip and a year older than that for our second, and he went back and forth between the mei tai (first trip) or Ergo (during the second trip it was a back carry) and the rental stroller. He walked around in places WE said he could walk around in. In other places closer to home he loved to walk, but that was not happening, didn't matter what he felt about it, to the extent he wanted it to happen, at Disneyland. Or seaworld, or the zoo, etc.

And since he was used to being worn, he LIKED having the view that we did, rather than the "oh yay another butt" view that a 2 year old on the ground gets. So he was up most of the day, getting to see the sights, not just legs.

My guy was not a backpack-with-a-lead kid, though. So sad. My brother and I were raised with them, and I totally thought I would use it with DS, too. But...he liked to run full tilt and slam into the end of the lead, thereby ripping my arm out of its socket. What a joy. I was raised with sled dogs, and I joke that I ingested enough dog hair that my DNA changed, and DS is part sled dog. He thought he was breaking the sled from the ice, ha ha. Anyway the "leash" got retired pretty quickly with that kid. And if a child isn't used to it, DL isn't always the place to start it!

Does anyone know what Disney protocol actually is in the event of a lost child? Tape in clothes, tattoos, etc are all good ideas but if Disney rules are to not touch a child to find information it's all for nothing. Mine are not verbal enough to be able to tell anyone anything and are extremely unlikely to be able to understand that they shouldn't go anywhere to find us.

Kids will be noticed. Other adults will see the kids. Adults will watch over the kid and a CM will be notified or will notice. Then the CMs with walkie talkies will communicate with others. From what I've read over and over, usually the CMs will be with the two parties and will get them back together pretty quickly. Other times the "lost parent" center will be the meetup spot. For me, I would send one parent there while the other parent stayed there and communicated with CMs. No set roles in my household; the one that CAN communicate would stay there, and the one freaking out who needs to move and act and DO SOMETHING can go to the lost parent center. In my household I'm generally the calm one in an emergency and DH flips out...until one day DS got a head injury. And I went nearly catatonic along with DS, while DH had a major shift in personality and became the "get things done" guy. Amazing, how roles can shift.

I think someone here mentioned just how many undercover CMs there are! It's AMAZING to watch them come out when something happens. People you thought were tourists all of a sudden just aren't.

A photo from that day on her phone would have saved a lot of time because she was crying too hard to be coherent.

Poor friend. If only someone else from her party, assuming they weren't all incoherent, had taken over that job for her.



One of DH's BEST memories from DL is being lost. Weird, huh?

He was looking at the map, around 6 years old. While "behind" the map, his family moved on. When he took the map down, they were gone. He was looking around, and suddenly Captain Hook was there. Hook figured out that DH was on his own unexpectedly, and he just sat with DH. Obviously they didn't *talk*, but they had a good time. Finally DH's family realized that they weren't counting 3 kids anymore, and went back to where they had been. Hook is DH's #1 fave character to this day, and DH is 43.

 

[Gisele]

Sometimes good can arise from an errant child. Why my Cousin Vito, this was back during, way back in time, anyway, he was with his mother Rosario Delgado Juarez at a flea market in the big city of San Francisco Ca. one day, Vito was about 13 at the time, but he looked more like 18. Anyway, mama was off looking at tomatoes while Vito became distracted by a vendor selling military posters and memorbilia plus uniforms. Well....Vito was mesmerized if not hypnotized by this awesome display. Some how his mama couldn't find him. She knew he was mature for his age and would return home. Well he did but not until he was 18. He had joined the military and ended up becoming one of the youngest decorated soldiers in WWll. In the meantime Vito had contacted his mama years earlier so she wouldn't worry about him.
His mama and home town was so proud of him.

 

[violentlyserene]

My mom was a lost kid magnet, and I am a "in the vicinity of lost kid" magnet. I have literally never, not once, seen a lost kid screaming, crying, and running around. Kids go quiet when they realize they are alone. They might cry, but they aren't moving much and they aren't screaming. That's my experience, at least.

(we watched a tiny little guy at Seaworld once...no parents around, but he didn't know that, he had his own agenda, his own plan for right then, and he didn't know he was alone...and there was a veritable ring of non-related adults casually standing around him (a big ring), not getting close (don't want a parent coming out to find someone looming over the little guy) but just making sure nothing happened. finally FINALLY the dad came racing out of the store...dad lost a few years off his life from that, but the little guy just looked up like "of course there is my person, he must have been there the whole time, and yes father I am done with my roaming" and they went off...dad didn't even know how darned many men and women there were watching out for his little dude, just making sure nothing happened to the little stranger-boy.)

Still show her cast members. There's no harm in that.

I'm guessing you aren't into babywearing? DS was 17 months our first trip and a year older than that for our second, and he went back and forth between the mei tai (first trip) or Ergo (during the second trip it was a back carry) and the rental stroller. He walked around in places WE said he could walk around in. In other places closer to home he loved to walk, but that was not happening, didn't matter what he felt about it, to the extent he wanted it to happen, at Disneyland. Or seaworld, or the zoo, etc.

And since he was used to being worn, he LIKED having the view that we did, rather than the "oh yay another butt" view that a 2 year old on the ground gets. So he was up most of the day, getting to see the sights, not just legs.

My guy was not a backpack-with-a-lead kid, though. So sad. My brother and I were raised with them, and I totally thought I would use it with DS, too. But...he liked to run full tilt and slam into the end of the lead, thereby ripping my arm out of its socket. What a joy. I was raised with sled dogs, and I joke that I ingested enough dog hair that my DNA changed, and DS is part sled dog. He thought he was breaking the sled from the ice, ha ha. Anyway the "leash" got retired pretty quickly with that kid. And if a child isn't used to it, DL isn't always the place to start it!



Kids will be noticed. Other adults will see the kids. Adults will watch over the kid and a CM will be notified or will notice. Then the CMs with walkie talkies will communicate with others. From what I've read over and over, usually the CMs will be with the two parties and will get them back together pretty quickly. Other times the "lost parent" center will be the meetup spot. For me, I would send one parent there while the other parent stayed there and communicated with CMs. No set roles in my household; the one that CAN communicate would stay there, and the one freaking out who needs to move and act and DO SOMETHING can go to the lost parent center. In my household I'm generally the calm one in an emergency and DH flips out...until one day DS got a head injury. And I went nearly catatonic along with DS, while DH had a major shift in personality and became the "get things done" guy. Amazing, how roles can shift.

I think someone here mentioned just how many undercover CMs there are! It's AMAZING to watch them come out when something happens. People you thought were tourists all of a sudden just aren't.



Poor friend. If only someone else from her party, assuming they weren't all incoherent, had taken over that job for her.



One of DH's BEST memories from DL is being lost. Weird, huh?

He was looking at the map, around 6 years old. While "behind" the map, his family moved on. When he took the map down, they were gone. He was looking around, and suddenly Captain Hook was there. Hook figured out that DH was on his own unexpectedly, and he just sat with DH. Obviously they didn't *talk*, but they had a good time. Finally DH's family realized that they weren't counting 3 kids anymore, and went back to where they had been. Hook is DH's #1 fave character to this day, and DH is 43.

I have seen my kid when she thinks she's lost and she is that kid running around crying. I also know from watching her when we're in public that unless I'm physically holding her, she's got no idea where I actually am. Last time we went to the zoo, she was telling little girls where I was in the kids section where they can run free but she was telling them where I was 10 minutes ago. When she realized I wasn't there, she flipped out and ran around until she found me. Same in other places. We've watched her wander for 10-15 minutes without once looking back.

By protocols, I more meant what do they look for with a nonverbal kid?

 

[Sweetpea2011]

One other suggestion. From the time the kids were able to talk, we have had a secret family code word that only the four of us know. That way, if someone were to approach them and say "Mom and Dad asked me to get you and take you to them" they immediately would ask for the code word. If the person didn't know it (and there is no WAY they would) then the kids know this isn't a safe person.

 

[Malcon10t]

When a child is lost, Cast Members will keep the child in the same area they were found for 15 minutes. The same cast member stays with them the whole time. They will ask them simple questions such as "What ride did you just ride?" Did mommy/daddy say what ride was next? What was mommy/daddy wearing? They have additional CMs fan out looking for the parents description/parents looking like they've lost a child. If you haven't been found after 15-20 mins, they then take them to Lost Parents, where they have cartoons and coloring books. Non verbal kids would be very similar. I do not think they would be allowed to look in clothing without the child saying "My phone number is in the tag." If the child has a phone number, they do call it.

Code word works, but also realize a cast member won't know it and will need to take them to a safe spot.

 

[riostoker]

Don't just talk with the younger ones -- decision-making skills develop at different rates on different things.

I was reviewing all of the "look for a CM, stay out, don't panic, etc." info with little brother and sister before a DLR trip a while ago. DS was 13 and pretty smart, but he told me that if he got separated/lost, he thought should leave the park, walk through Downtown Disney, go into the Disneyland Hotel where we were staying, and wait outside the room!! This was without a cell phone or a room key. Once I got over my jaw-drop, I had to carefully re-expelain the same guidelines applied to him and that he should never, ever leave a park without us.

I don't worry about tweens getting snatched, but they can be overconfident and make unwise decisions without thinking them through!

PHXscuba

I'm so glad you mentioned this story... my two oldest are 11 and 13, and I can imagine them answering the exact same way! I'll be sure to have a talk with them before our trip. Also, it reminded me of a time we got separated from one of my kids when she was 7 on a WDW trip. We were staying at the Polynesian and were in the lobby. I think one child had gone to the bathroom and another was in the gift shop or something. I was trying to keep my eye on both, but the seven year old somehow got away from me. She looked around, didn't see us, and started heading to our room! Fortunately, housekeeping found her at our room knocking on the door, talked to her, and brought her back to the lobby about the same time we had frantically started looking for her.

That was a bad trip for lost kids for us! Another time, we were taking a break from the parks in the room. The kids were watching TV. My husband was taking a nap, and I got in the shower. I got out of the shower and heard a knock on the door. Looked out, and it was my two year old!!! LOL! The older two were so zoned out in front of the TV that they hadn't even noticed she had left!! Good reminder to use chains on doors!

One other tip... I don't know if DLR is the same as WDW since we haven't had our first trip yet, but at WDW, all the cast members wear the white oval nametags. We drilled into our kids that if they ever got lost to find someone with a white oval nametag.

 

[lovebug33]

I got a my buddy tag for my girls. It goes off if they get too far from me. My oldest won't wear a leash, so it's a life saver.

 

[Mrs. Whoever]

Before our first trip we made a dog tag at the petstore for our oldest (age 4) with my cell phone number on it to hang on the end of her pin lanyard.

She's now old enough to have the number memorized. We've told them to find a mom standing next to a stroller if they don't immediately see a CM. There is almost always a mom standing next to a stroller. Last time we lost our oldest (age 7 at the time) I was staring at her across the crowded entrance to Indiana Jones but couldn't get to her. She immediately found a mom and dad standing next to a stroller and I watched her approach them and then my phone rang. Had she wandered off into a shop to find a CM this might have taken a lot longer.

 

[Malcon10t]

Make sure you teach kids their WHOLE number including area code. We once found a child who was lost, and she knew her 7 digit phone number, not the area code. And she wasn't local. And she didn't know her city, so she ended up Lost Parents for a while.

 

[wsssup]

Great tips something I would have not thought about. Will be getting an id band for my little one. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[peanutmomma]

We have the Road ID Slim for the boy - actually all of us wear them. It has our mobile numbers on it, and he gets to pick a little saying for the last line or two of the band when it gets engraved.

 

[tarheelalum]

One of my coworkers uses a device called trax that the child puts in his pocket. He even has an app for it to watch his kid on a map. He said its his kid's LoJack.

 

[elaine amj]

From a young age, i have been training my kids to go back to the spot we last saw/talked to each other. Then stay put and I will go hunting. They are older now but it is tge rule for all of us. Last time my DS got sepaRated from us in a crowded area, I did freak out a little as i had trouble finding him. Turns out he got slightly off track in locating our "last spot" but eventually figured it out and was moving toward it when DH found him. He wasn't worried at all and felt confident that he knew exactly what to do. I was pleased that he felt good and did indeed follow our "protocol".

 

[whoever]

We've lost Katherine twice. She's just quick and wants to do her own thing sometimes. We went to PetSmart and used their animal tag engraver machines and made dog tags with the necessary info on them and had them on the kid's lanyards. I've also heard of parents doing temporary tattoos with the contact info. Last time we lost her, we got a call from the people who found her (she knows our phone numbers). They were 20 feet away and we couldn't see them (right at the entrance to Indy/fastpasses). Had to have them lift her up and we lifted up the other kid to have them locate each other. So easy to lose a kid in that massive congestion point.

 

[Disney Dory]

These are all great tips and much appreciated! I will be in DL with my two little grandbabies and it is comforting to know "if" a little one gets separated that the CM's are on it right away, but we will be sure to use one or more of the suggestions mentioned here. When my daughter was 2 years old, she became separated from us and it is one of the most terrifying experiences a parent can have! We were at a very crowded arcade. My DD had been standing right next to us when we looked down and she was gone. We all spread out looking for her and it only took about 5 minutes to locate her, but it felt like an eternity! She had crawled up into one of those enclosed arcade cars to "drive it". She was as happy as could be, but we were totally scared to death! Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful tips!

 

[Sherry E]

I have lost adult friends in the World of Disney store in DTD, on more than one occasion. That was frustrating enough, but it is so easy to become separated if one person turns to look at something and the other person walks a few steps in the other direction to look at something else. On one of these occasions I finally just went outside and sat on a bench, assuming I would see my friend walking by at some point. It turned out that she was at the other end of WoD, also outside, but she was staying put in that spot because she thought that I would eventually walk by! Finally, a random total stranger (a dad with his family) realized that my friend and I were looking for each other and told one of us where to find the other one. It was scary, but also hilarious. The other time I lost friends in WoD, at least I had a friend with me -- so we could keep each other company while we looked for the missing friends. We walked the entire length of WoD, looking for this family of 3 adults and one child -- who should not have been hard to spot -- and it turned out that while we were looking inside the store for them, they had gone out one of the exits looking for us, and when we finally went outside they had gone inside again.

So, if it is that easy to lose grown adults in a store, I can only imagine how easily kids could become separated from their families in the huge crowds inside the parks. I would panic, I'm sure. There are great tips and bits of info in this thread -- useful for DLR but also for any location.

 

[TechGuy]

I saw a posting where the parent had taken one of the standard buttons from City Hall, wrote on the face of the button "If Lost, See Back of Button" where they wrote their name and numbers on the back of the button.