Ever "lost" a child at WDW?

[twinmomplus2]

We got by doing a child saftey products search on ASK JEEVES. They were 19.99, and free shipping, Offered in 3 colors, teal, yellow, and pink.

 

[CK1]

THose beepers sound like something I need...

I agree with the consensus that losing a child, for whatever length of time, is the worst feeling ever. And I also agree that some children are inherently more prone to it, no matter what the parents may do to prevent it! Our middle son is just determined to get separated from us. At age 2, he gave us the scare of a lifetime. I went to check on him at 2am because I head a noise. He wasn't in his bed. I checked his brother's bed -- nothing. OUr bed -- nothing. Now I have the lights on all over the house -- no sign of him. I am yelling, shouting his name. DH is awake but can't understand my panic. Part of me is saying, "Now c'mon, Cindy -- be calm. He's in here somewhere. Kids don't just disappear." And then there is that "other" voice, deep inside you, the one you are deathly afraid of, the one that says, "No, they do... do you think that anyone who ever lost a child ever got up thinking they would lose a child that day?" And you wonder -- oh God -- is this happening to me? To my child? We combed the entire house. Even dh, normally calm, stoic -- was in a tearful panic. We looked -- and hollered, no screamed -- his name for 20 minutes. We looked outside -- nothing but creepy still night air. (It did not help that there had been some guy fired at my dh's company a few weeks prior for bringing a machete to work and that on his way out he had threatened the managers who fired him -- and those managers lived on either side of us -- and that our houses had each received some suspicious damage, like phones boxes being run over, outside lights rewired / shorted, and car tampering -- we were already on edge.) After the 20 minuts of yelling, I ran upstairs to grab the phone and began dialing. As I waited for a connection, I heard the softest, faintest, whisper of a sigh. And in my peripheral vision, I saw just a bare trace of movement under the skirt of a table in the corner of the room. I ran to the table, lifted up the skirt, and there, in a 2' by 2' tight little ball, was our son, curled up and sleeping. I grabbed him and started sobbing uncontrollably. By this time, our sleeping-like-a-log child was of course awake (with all our yelling, people were probably awakened within a 5 mile radius!) All 4 of us climbed into the bed together and I don't think I ever shut my eyes the rest of the night, unless it was in prayer!

Since then, we do our best to never lose a child, but still, it happens. I gave each child a "tag" on our last WDW trip (it had no names, but had our cell # & our FR frequencies of choice, and our resort name). They each had instructions on what to do, if ever lost. But sure enough, exiting the Pooh ride, Ryan sped ahead of me and poof -- he was out of sight. I knew dh was ahead of me (part of our plan, for cases where he does this speedy exit routine), but unfortunately, Ryan made a right turn out of pooh... dh made a left to get our stroller. We spent a good 10 minutes tracking him down -- we finally found him standing in the middle of the walkway, near the Tea CUps, sobbing. He knew which way we were headed, I'll give him credit for his navigational skills, but he raced ahead "to be first" and then when he realized he was alone, he froze in his tracks. In this case, he didn't follow the plan (to contact a CM), but at least he didn't wander aimlessly, making the chance of finding him even slimmer.

Cindy

 

[jjjbennett]

CK1 your story made me remember a similar incidence at our home. DS was maybe 3. It was summer and the upstairs windows were open. I was awakened to a cry that at the time sounded like a child crying outside my window down in the back yard. I got up to investigate rather sleepy but not panicked. I went to the kids rooms and saw that my DS's bed was empty. Then the panic began. I'm screaming for DH and saying in disbelief how could he get outside all the door are dead bolted. We are trying to wake up our brains are fuzzy and DH is running downstairs. I'm opening the window completely to look out. I run back in DS's room in panic to check his windows and notice some movement. Under the bed covers that are lying next to the bed and partially under the bed skirt is my DS sleeping. He has fallen out of bed (not an unusual occurence but he was covered by the displaced covers) The cry out the window was a stray cat that coupled with my sleepy state and misplaced DS sounded very much to me like a crying child. Talk about your heart rate soaring through the roof. DS slept through the whole panicked horrible 5 minutes.

 

[BevS97]

and can someone remind me why harnesses are a bad idea.....

No seriously - I've seen a few comments about names. My thoughts on names are that we use our kids names so often, that if anyone 'nasty' wanted to learn our kids names they could do so very easily, they just need to stand near you in the parade, in a line, in a restaurant, and you probably say that child's name 10 times while they are within hearing distance.

Bev

 

[debster812]

Debster's lost child tip of the day:

In this day of digital cameras, and with so many people having them, here is what we did in January. Every morning, before heading out to the parks for the day, we would take a picture of our DS. We ALWAYS had the digital camera with us, and if we had ever lost him, we could just look at it, and know exactly what he was wearing.

This could work with video or a Polaroid too.

 

[RickinNYC]

To all the parents out there. I've never been in your position, I just can't simply imagine what it must feel like. I can, however, tell you that I was one of those kids that had a tendency to get lost just about anywhere and everywhere. The drive-in, science museum, the aquarium, Magic Kingdom, local swimming pool, Disney Land, supermarket, downtown Tokyo, zoo, you name it, I've gotten lost in it.

If I saw something that caught my eye, I was done for. I'd saunter over to whatever shiny/doo dad/gee gaw/gizmo/widget/gadget/animal/vegetable/mineral/wall/window/dust bunny/subatomic particle/absolute nothing that captivated me and I'd make a bee line for it. Stumbling in a mindless shamble, muttering "must investigate, must see, must have, must touch," I'd go. Didn't matter if it was a t-rex display at the museum, a nifty toy in the window at the shopping center, or a bottle of relish. (And if it was something in a glass bottle or jar, and in an elaborate display, and filled with a sticky substance, I usually tripped/stumbled right into it... but that's another story) Not a care in the world. Nope.

In retrospect, now I know why either my mother or father held a firm grip on my hand or shoulder (or head for that matter). But it was all to no avail.

I'd like to say it was because I was such an intelligent child that the world simply fascinated me. Nope. Perhaps I was so curious about the environment around me, I had to investigate. Not a chance. Maybe it was simply that I had such a vivid imagination, I found magic in the simplest of things? 'Tis to laugh.

I was just a knuckle head kid who had the touch of ding bat. Nothing more nothing less.

And how do I know?

'Cause I still do it. Without fail, no matter where we go, I get a pleading, yet stern mini lecture from my partner. "PLEASE tell me when you wander off. You know how I hate that." And what do I say? "Of course I will. I'm not stupid." And what really happens? "Hey Sharper Image. It has shiny things that move. I need to see." or "Hey, a football phone. I used to have one." or "I think I'll go this way... yeah, this way looks good." And I'm off and running.

So to every single parent out there who has lost his/her child, I officially apologize. Especially to my Mom and Dad.

Ever so humbly, sorry!

 

[crisi]

That's actually the problem at a place like Disney. Its so easy for us grown up ding bats with kids to be attracted by the bright shiny objects in front of us and take our eyes off the kid for the 40 seconds it takes for them to get from Tomorrowland to Liberty Square (a darting preschooler travels at something close to the speed of light). And there is probably a genetic link to ding battedness - I know that my daughter is just as easily distracted as I ever was. The two of us together are a recipe for disaster.

 

[crisi]

That's actually the problem at a place like Disney. Its so easy for us grown up ding bats with kids to be attracted by the bright shiny objects in front of us and take our eyes off the kid for the 40 seconds it takes for them to get from Tomorrowland to Liberty Square (a darting preschooler travels at something close to the speed of light). And there is probably a genetic link to ding battedness - I know that my daughter is just as easily distracted as I ever was. The two of us together are a recipe for disaster.

 

[twinmomplus2]

I have one suggestion for parents of night wanderers, ALARM SYSTEM!!!!! I love my alarm if anyone opens the door. The alarm sounds. I have 2 year old twins and have the alarm set at night to go off if a door is opened, mine do not wander, since they sleep with us But At least I feel better that if they were to wander they would not get out the door. I have to say my teen's bedroom is 2 floors away from me and I can not always hear her at night. I love setting the alarm and going to bed, and knowing in the morning she will be right where she was when I went to bed. , ADT always runs a special for about $100, it is worth every penny for my ease!

 

[Whosemom]

Add us to the list!! Both lists...

we were looking at the shinywhizbangs in one of Epcots gadget buildings, and dh was in charge of dd who was 18mo at the time. They walked past and I said "hi sweetheart", which it turns out, dh thought was an official changing of the guard. So, off he goes with his new found freedom, while I turn back to the game I was playing.

5 minutes later, he returns and I ask after the little pretty. His jaw drops as he says that *I* had her. We dash around, I grab a quite possibly 12 year old cm and say "my baby is missing" about three times. With this "so?" look, he finally says, "well, whats she look like?" I told him briefly and sped off without him. We found her around the corner playing a baby computer game. sigh. happy as a clam. The panic lasted maybe two minutes...except it was the first five minutes that really panicked me. (btw The cm didn't follow us, pretty much no resopnse there)

She continues to elude us, but not ever again due to a missed handoff. She's my little butterfly flitting about. After we "trained" on our first dd, a thoroughly compliant, somewhat clingy girly, this one took us by surprise.

parenthood, the great adventure!