How do you prepare for the "what if your child gets lost"

[Goin2Disney2006]

Do you somehow label your child with your cell phone number? DD is too young to memorize our cell phone numbers.

How do I teach her what to do if she gets lost?

 

[shellyfive]

Tell her to get to a cast member (they have a badge) and tell she's lost......disney has so many people in and out of stores , at kiosks, etc., It should be easy for her to find one. You can even point that out to her on your first day there.......that's how we found our lost middle child, after she got swept up in the crowds once Philharmagic lets out.

 

[crisi]

A lot of people also tag their child with a cell phone number - people use tatoos (you can order them), dogtags on shoes. We just wrote on our kids when they were young (we tried the tags, they got lost on day 2).

But we also introduce our kids to "Mickey's Friends" (cast members wearing white badges) and tell them if they can't find Mom and Dad they should talk to "Mickey's Friends."

 

[Echo queen]

I took a piece of cloth and wrote with a sharpie my name childs my name our cell numbers and where we were staying. I would pin it with a saftey pin inside my childs cloths daily. We never lost him. I did talk to my child about this and told him what to do if ever separated from us. Peace of mind: priceless

 

[GRUMPY D]

this is what we do for all family members , a 4 inch x 3 inch name badge on a lanyard with name , age , any allergies ( food and meds ) what resort we are in and are cell # s , and if your child won't ware a lanyard then you can pin it to the back of there shirt

your child's name Age:
Resort: Saratoga Springs

Mom ( name) Cell #
(000) 000-0000
Dad (name) Cell #
(000) 000-0000

NO KNOWN ALLERGIES

then teach them that if you lose mom and dad , go to a cast member tell them help me , and the rule is that if you go out of the room you must have your lanyard on

 

[momof1princess]

i made my DD a set of dog tags at armynavy.com for $5.95 that said "if child wearing is lost, please call" then added my and DH's cell phone numbers. she's had them for 6 years and has worn them on every trip we've ever taken. they come with silencers so there's no clinking, and she just wears the one tag tucked inside her shirt, so no one knows it's there.

 

[MiniGirl]

In addition to what the others have said, I would also stop from time to time and say to my girls, "Alright, let's pretend, you couldn't find mommy or daddy. Of all these people you see, who would you go to for help?" I would have them physically point to someone. That allowed me to see that they did understand who they should go to and were making good choices. It also allowed me to correct them if they pointed to someone who was not a CM.

 

[Cinderellabride]

Whenever I have seen this discussed here before people have said not to put the child's name on whatever you use because doing so could give a person with bad intentions an advantage.

We are going to get the safety tats for our DS who will be 21 months.

 

[lemondog]

We ordered silicone bracelets for our kids with the phrase "If I am lost, please call (000)000-0000" with DH's cell phone number. Worked great, because we did lose our then-7yo in the giftshop outside Expedition Everest and not 5 minutes later we got a call from a CM that he had her. My 4yo twins wore them on their ankles, it was great because they could get wet and not get messed up.

I wish I could remember where I ordered from, but if you do a Google search for silicone ID bracelets you should be able to find a site easily.

 

[CLR4321]

I made an ID for my 5 year old DS out of one of the WDW luggage tags for him to wear around his neck. It had me and my boyfriend's first names and our cell #. I also told my DS if he ever got separated to find a person with a castle name tag on it and they would help him find us, each time we go, I have a CM show him the name tag up close so he can see it. We actually got separated for a moment at AK while my DS was playing in the Boneyard. He found a CM who helped him find us right away. From what my DS said, the CM was great, just kept talking to him and telling him about dinosaurs and that his friend (another CM) worked at the front of the attraction to let the kids in. My DS surprisingly wasn't crying or even upset. I am sure in attractions with play areas where a kid can get separated easily the CM's are used to helping kids find parents and vice versa. When he is a little older I am going to just buy some walkie talkies so we can radio to him if we get separated.

 

[ktlm]

We ordered silicone bracelets from reminderband.com. We had one that had Mom and my cell and the other with Dad and his cell.

 

[Kim1964]

We use the silicone bracelets from shanrene.com and put our cell #s on them. We also review that they should go to a cast member if they are lost and show him/her the bracelet.

 

[es45]

A lot of people also tag their child with a cell phone number - people use tatoos (you can order them), dogtags on shoes. We just wrote on our kids when they were young (we tried the tags, they got lost on day 2).

But we also introduce our kids to "Mickey's Friends" (cast members wearing white badges) and tell them if they can't find Mom and Dad they should talk to "Mickey's Friends."

We do the same (write our cell# on them with a sharpie, usually on the upper arms). We also taught them how to identify a CM.

Sometimes it is an adult that will get separated from the group, too. We make a plan as a family to meet in front of the castle if that happens.

 

[Kies99]

We used this:

http://www.totsafe.com/proddetail.asp?prod=4002101

We like this better than the silicone bracelets. First off, you can adjust them to fit different sizes (sometimes they wear them on their ankles). Second, you can easily change up the information inside them to include much more than just a cell-phone (medications they might be on, allergies, etc...).

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

We use the silicone bracelets from Shanrene as well as there's no way a panicked young child will remember a cell phone number. Any ID you use has to be easily visible to a CM as they won't look inside a child's clothing.

Also, take a picture of them in the morning so you can remember what they're wearing that particular day.

And most importantly, AS SOON AS you realize your child is missing, TELL A CAST MEMBER. That way they can get on the radio and put out an alert while you're frantically searching. The more eyes you have looking, the better. Don't think you're inconveniencing them or over-reacting. They LOVE to help!

Just this past week we lost our youngest (2 years old) in the World of Disney store at Downtown Disney when he hopped out of the stroller to go see something while DH's back was turned. DH was calling him and searching through all the racks while I took the other 2 boys and told a cashier that we were missing a child. She waved over a security guard (who all have radios) who smiled, flicked on her radio, and put out an alert that there was a little boy missing in World of Disney and gave out his description, what he was wearing, and his name.

The security guard was very sweet and told me this happens quite frequently and did her best to keep me somewhat calm with small talk and occasional radio updates. While it seemed like an eternity, it was probably only 3-4 minutes later that she got a response that a CM on the other side of the store had him. DH hustled over to get him and the silly kid didn't even realize he had been "lost" as he handed DH a toy he had grabbed and said with a smile "I want this!".

It would have taken us ages to find him on our own as it is tough to track down a moving target in a crowded place with lots of twists and turns. So put ID on your child and then ask for help as soon as you think you need it.

 

[tjbaggott]

The only child I'm worried about is my 6 year old son. He will have a lan around his neck for the pin trading and it will also hold his key to the world card. Do you think thats a good place to also stick a paper with our cell phone number ect.... on it? DS will understand that if he gets lost, or can't find us (to a 6 year old, not being able to see mom or dad doesn't mean he's lost, so I'd stess that if he loses US) to go to a CM right away, but he still doesn't know our home number much less the cell number. We're working on it but I won't rely on his memory in WDW. The lan is a break away one so if it were to get caught on something, it won't choke him, thus he is likely going to be wearing it at all times.

 

[dis75ney]

We ordered silicone bracelets from reminderband.com. I liked them because I was able to print on both "sides" of the band, rather than just one section, and there was no minimum order. DS picked out a glow-in-the-dark bracelet with black lettering that said "If my parents are lost" on one side and "Call XXX-XXX-XXXX" on the other. DS fought me on wearing it since he insisted he knows my cell phone number, but when he ended up getting separated from us while at The Seas, he went up to a cast member and told him that his parents were lost. When the cast member asked for his parents' names or phone numbers, he simply stuck out his arm with the bracelet on it. He later admitted to us that he was so scared that he couldn't remember my phone number...

DS also knows to look for a cast member or a mommy with children if he gets separated from us...

 

[brymolmom]

We go the cheap route - I laminate nametags with names/where we're staying and phone numbers. I put a disney sticker on them before I laminate - round the edges, and pin them at the bottom of the shirt.

I'm not into that not letting anyone know their names - I say them about 50 times a minute when we're at WDW so I'm certain anyone in our vicintity knows their names anyway.

And we've practiced the 'find another mommy with kids' routine if we're separated. Mommies are easier to find than CM and, quite honestly, I don't want my kids going up to a man. Sorry men, and CM men espeically, but I don't know how easy/difficult it is to get one of the CM nametags duplicated to impersonate a CM, and you are 98% safer going to a woman than a man when it comes to your kids not being with you and finding someone 'safe'. Even tho I'm all about equal rights - gotta go with the statistics on this one.

 

[wrighter]

I made bracelets for our young children out of beads I got at the craft store. They're elastic so they don't fall off, and since they're plastic they can go in the water and not have the numbers be smudged or anything. The bracelets have my and my husband's cell numbers on them. Not anyone's name or anything, but the numbers are there if need be.

As far as prepping our kids for getting lost, we have tried to keep it VERY simple. We know if it ever happens they will probably be really upset. Our two points are these:

Once you think you're lost:

1.) Sit down and don't move. (If they're wandering around looking for a CM they might get even more lost. If they stay put we might actually find them first.)

2.) Find a mommy with a stroller and tell her you're lost. (Who is likely going to be the most compassionate to a lost child? Another mom! And I can't imagine our children being somewhere in WDW where there wasn't a surplus of mommies with strollers! Plus the kids feel "safer" with someone who's also a mommy.) Then they know to show the mommy they're bracelets.

So two things:

SIT DOWN

FIND A MOMMY

Hopefully we'll never have to see if it works!

 

[sksjasams]

My DS had just turned 10 when we took our first trip this past Thanksgiving. A day or two before we left, I brought up the topic, almost thinking it wasn't necessary at his age and also since we have been to many crowded events and he always sticks close. I told him if we get separated he should stay right where he is and we will find him, and he should look for a cast member with a name tag or mom with a stroller for help. His response almost knocked me over..."Otherwise I was thinking I could just head back to the hotel and wait for you there" I was so thankful we talked about it, and of course we never did get separated.