Insp by Snoopy...Losing your kids!!!

[KimRaye]

Snoopy's pool-related thread reminded me of how my cousin & I together, lost 3/4 of our kids just this Tuesday.

We were sitting together, watching them on 2 different rides. 3 on 1, 1 on another. Her DS was safe on the lazy river log ride. After a few moments tho, we didn't see our DDs returning to ride the glider. I asked "Where'd they go?". Of course she didn't know any better than I. So, I got up and walked the place, up and back. Asked her if they showed up. Nope. Still calm, probably missed them in one spot I didn't check. Went up again, stopped at the entrance for some "Lost Parents" assistance, which didn't work, so I set back to look again! Got back to cousin, still no girls! By this time, her DS was done, and she started looking right behind me. Went up and back again. NOW panicking. Upon our last return back, she spotted them again on the glider. WHEW!!!

I was ready to knock their collective heads together. Cousin agreed. When we shagged them out and off of the ride, it turns out they were there the entire time! Playing in an unviewable sand area. Mind you, this is a kids-only place, meaning no adults on any of the rides. Hence, the reason we didn't actually 'explore' the ride.

I don't think either of us were neglectful, we WERE watching, but if we can't see, we can't watch.

I'm not going back to this place, btw.

I also have 2 stories about when I lost DS.

 

[poohandwendy]

LOL, we 'lost' our eldest DD in the "Honey I shrunk the kids'' play area in WDW...at 17, she still isn't over that...

Lost my son in Kmart...he now will only shop at high-end retail stores...he says he is scarred....

and my youngest DD...we lost her in Hershey Park...when we found her a man was holding her...luckily, he and a park employee were to the lost and found area...but MAN!!!! the sight of a stranger holding her just about made my heart stop....

 

[KimRaye]

Thank you! I'm glad that GOOD parents have shared these moments with me, scary that they are.

 

[AZKathy]

My middle daughter had a softball game some years back. My DS was in fourth grade and my other DD was two. He was bored with the game watching, so he asked if he could take DD to the playground which was very close to the ball field. I said that was fine. A bit later, he came back and told me he lost Mandy. OH MY GOSH (but I did not say gosh!!!)!!!

All the moms watching the game came with me to start looking for Mandy. All I saw was desert all around us and I though how easy it was for her to go out in that area....I wanted to throw up and cry and die right then and there. It seemed like forever, but it was only a few minutes at the most, when another mom had picked her up by another ball field...this little two year old crying her eyes out, her mom crying her eyes out and thanking God for taking care of her. When we all calmed down, she told me she saw a butterfly and started to follow it and then got lost. DS had been gabbing with a friend who came up to him at the playground. That was one of the worst experiences in my life!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I lost Vince at Wrigley back when he was about 7 or so. In the crowd, he went out a different exit of the restroom. He was 'missing' for about 10 minutes. Scared the daylights out of me.

 

[oogieboogie]

We lost DS3 twice in a space of one hour in DTD. First was at the pin store. I thought he was with DH. DH thought he was with me. DS got confused and was walking back to the Once Upon a Toy store! We found him with a CM - crying all the way.

Then we took the kids to the Lego store. Well they have this play area outside it and DS3 was climbing up the slide, decided to exit the other side and got confused again and wandered off trying to find us. We found him with another mother!

I felt my heart drop down to my ankles that day!

 

[cgcw]

I've never lost one of my own, but I did "misplace" a friend of my DS9's. I took all the kids to an amusement park. My DS's friend was no where to be found when we were in the petting zoo. I thought maybe he got spooked by the animals roaming around and walked outside the gated area. Nope. Went back in, couldn't find him. Went back outside, he wasn't there. Started to panic.

My daycare friend stayed with the rest of our group and I high tailed it to find security. Then they asked me what he was wearing... ...I didn't have a clue. In the end, it turned out okay, because he was just standing in line waiting his turn on the pony ride. The only place I didn't look. It was very scary. Although all and all it was probably no more than 5 minutes I was looking for him, it seemed like forever.

Now when we go out as a group, we wear tie-dyed t-shirts I've made. At least we look like a group and I always know what the kids are wearing.

DH onces lost DS when he was about 3 at Toys R Us. DH didn't even know he was missing until he heard his name called over the intercom. That was scary to me and I wasn't even there. At least DS knew what to do.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I found a child once.

We live in a semi-rural area, houses on 3/4 - 1 acre lots, no sidewalks. This little girl shoed up in my front yard. She was about 2 or 3 and I had never seen her before. She could only tell me her first name but not her last. We walked up and down our court to see if she had been visiting someone. No luck. So I called the police. They were busy with another problem (small town) but said they would come as soon as they could. After this child had been at my house more than a half hour, and we never went inside for fear of what someone might say, the police arrived followed by her parents. She had walked about a half mile and crossed a 35 MPH road to get to my house. Parents didn't seem that upset and no one even asked how long she had been there or said thank you or anything. Just took her and left. I was a little upset the police didn't ask how she could have been gone that long or why they weren't watching her.

 

[mickeyboat]

I heard a mother at Kmart one day frantically looking for her son. She went to the customer service desk and tbey issued the code for all associates to look for the kids. I immediately went back to the toy department, saw a little boy, asked him if he was missing his mother. I found a sales associate and asked him to take the boy to the service desk. The mother was frantic but the boy was cool as a cucumber. He was just looking at the toys.

Denae

 

[debster812]

I was not with him, but DS got lost last summer on a day care field trip (he was 6). They were at the New England Aquarium in Boston. He and a pal of his were engrossed with watching the sea turtle, and when their group moved on, they did not.

They realized in a couple of minutes that they were lost, but did exactly what they were supposed to do, and stayed put. A group of 4 middle school girls (also on a field trip) found them, and 2 girls stayed with the boys, and 2 were on their way to the front desk to get help.

They came upon the director of DS's field trip (the kids and teachers wear matching tshirts) and they recognized her shirt, and told her they 'found' 2 of her kids. The 2 lost boys saw Miss Kathleen, and burst into tears.

 

[Maleficent13]

I don't have kids to lose yet, but my dad lost me once when I was 2. We were shopping at a clothing store and my mom told him to watch me while she looked at clothes. A few minutes later, he came over asking if I was with her. She said no, you're watching her. He told her he lost me and she thought he was joking. I used to like to hide in the clothes rounders and jump out to "scare" her, and she thought he was just playing along. It took him a minute to convince her I was really gone.

She ran out into the aisle, and saw a woman walking toward her carrying me. We look very much alike (not to mention I'm sure Mom was panicked!) and the woman asked if I belonged to her. Turns out I was headed out the double doors into the parking lot when this woman saw me and figured it wasn't good for a 2 yr old to be doing that.

I don't remember the riot act my mom read my dad, but I do know that I was 16 before she left me alone with him again!

 

[RNMOM]

We lost DS#2 at Geauga Lake during DH's company picnic. He was about 2.5 or 3 and we were eating lunch talking to another family. He was playing with a ball with an older child and suddenly was gone. He was missing for 20 min.

I asked the servers to help and was told I would have to go across the park to guest services. Luckily I had introduced him to DH's boss. We both took off across the park with some other people. I had dressed him in overalls with dinosaurs on them and a bright yellow t-shirt. Easy to spot. Dar found him all the way across the park in the kiddie rides. Man was I ever glad and upset. He had just decided to ride rides and didn't want to eat. I sat down and held him and cried. Then, I got the stroller and put his butt in it. The next day I went out and bought a harness for him and used that for a couple more years. I still have it in my bottom drawer. I figure I will need it for his kids.

 

[always quiet]

Still haven't forgiven my DH for this one!

We were in Disney, back in Jan 1997. My youngest DD was 2 at the time....still in stroller. The kids wanted to ride Dumbo so while I headed into the line with Kirk and Jeana, he was in charge of parking the stroller and would meet us in line. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?! Minutes later, I see DH walking towards the line...............but Jessica is NOT with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked him, in a quiet, dignified voice (and if you believe this, I can tell you another one! ) where Jessica is. He tells me she is with ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah..............no...............she was in the stroller!! No, he tells me. He let her out and told her to "go follow Mommy"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I about freaked! I grabbed the other 2 kids by the hand, ran out of line and started screaming franticly for Jess. She wasn't able to speak well enough to give anyone her name, nor would I of expected that from her! Luckily, within a minute, I spotted her. She DID kind of do what her Daddy instructed her to.....she was standing in line at Dumbo, but was waiting at the exit (up to the top of the ramp, by the rope). One thing that still gets me............there was a CM standing next to where she was. Wouldn't you of thought she would of noticed a 2 yr old standing there all by herself????

Maybe someday, when I am very old, gray and senile, I will forgive Dennis for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Took decades off my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[snoopy]

Hey, I lost my kid at the pool once, exactly what I was so upset about these parents who didn't seem to give a crap that their babies were walking around these vast pool areas. I understand the complete panic all of you felt who have shared your stories here on this thread. I turned my back for one second, and Drew, who was about 2, wasn't there when I turned back around. Its truly the single most terrifying moment of my life. He turned up about 2 minutes later (which seemed more like 2 hours or 2 days) coming out of the bathroom - he was being potty trained, and he was being a good boy and using the potty like he was being taught, but for all I knew he was at the bottom of the pool. I know how quick it can happen. Which is why I going to the pool is certainly not a good time for Mom, all I do the entire time is stress over where they are at every single moment. I was venting on that thread because I couldn't believe that both of these parents (or grandparents) seemed to be more interested in the book they were reading or sunning themselves than they were in the whereabouts of their children. Neither was making any effort to look for the children, or were even aware that they were gone.

 

[NMAmy]

Well, thankfully, I haven't lost DD yet (she's 13 now) but her dad is a cop who had apparently frightened her with tales of missing children--she'd never let go of me for a second in the store.

I, on the other hand, had the privilige of scaring the bejeebers out of my grandparents when I was 5. They had taken my cousins and I to a good sized fair. I was with my older cousin looking at a display when he left and I didn't realize he was gone. I looked around for them and couldn't find them, so I headed out for the car with the reasoning that they couldn't leave without that. I wasn't in the least upset so even though I walked past several cops, no one questioned me. I found the station wagon by looking for some toys I'd left in the backseat (it was a pretty big parking lot!), then just sat on the hood of the car to wait it out.

During this time, my frantic grandparents had my name announced on the loud speaker and they had closed the gates after I wandered out. Police and workers were looking for me everywhere. Eventually, my grandfather decided to check the parking lot and found me there patiently waiting.

My grandmother never forgave me for this. When I was in my 20's, some family were in town and she took them to the same fair. I was upset that she didn't let me know that they were going and she replied that I'd gotten lost there once and she was never taking me there again! Never mind the fact that I had my own car and my own apartment at the time! And she never did take me there again.

 

[RNMOM]

I understood your venting, Snoopy, and took it as such. I agree about people who don't seem to understand/care that their children are not of an appropriate age to be having the freedom they want to give them.

 

[MAC3]

I lost my daughter on Virginia Beach when she was 5 yrs old. We had gone with other family members and were packing up after a day on the beach. My brother in law was carrying things to the car, and my DD asked if she could go with Uncle.

I allowed her to, he was walking in front of her carrying stuff, she was looking at the ground. Someone passed between the two of them so she started following that person and we never noticed until she was running halfway up the beach looking for Uncle.

Thank God for bright colored bathing suits.

 

[FroggyinArk]

Gee thanks what a great thread, lots of ideas on ways to lose this hormonal terror we used to call dd






seriouosly though




dw and i lost dd (11 at the time) in wdw last year on 4th of july. We were in mickeys toontown fair judges tent, shopping in the store area, I thoughht dd was with dw and vise versa, she has stepped off looking at something and by time we noticed her not next to us,, we panicked, she was slowly shopping her way out of the store and looking at stuff she wanted to, never realized we had become seperated, needless to say we never did finish seeing toon town decided it was time to he ad back to all starts f or a bite and a rest before the rush to find spots to see fireworks that night. I will never go into mk on 4th again god what a merss... we lost sis in law that day too.. she made abigger deal out of it that dd did,,( sil is 39) she was upet that she had lost her family,,,lol

 

[KarenC]

I never lost my kids because I was well-prepared for the possibility...my mother "lost" my youngest brother a number of times: O'Hare airport, the bat cave at the Milwaukee Zoo, the Museum of Science and Industry (he got his head caught in the picket fence of the farm exhibit), Panama Beach, Florida, to name a few.

The best story was when she didn't even know she lost him...we went to a convenience store. He went to read comic books. She didn't realize he'd gotten out of the car. She drove off. When we got home she started doing dishes. Next thing you know a car pulls into the driveway and a kid gets out. Mom thinks to herself, "that boy looks like Jim". IT WAS JIM!!!

Now Jim has a baby of his own and he rarely lets go of her...no wonder!