Safety ideas for Kids in WDW

[italianfamilia]

I was thinking of a way to ensure that no one gets lost and if one does, God forbid, that easy ways to get them back to me.

Wear the same colored shirts each day. Making some kind of ID tag that they can wear, hidden on them, with my name, their name, my cell phone, their dad's hotel where he is doing business, etc. Anyone made an ID necklace for this purpose? Any suggestions on how to do it?

I am going to find those "leash" bracelets for the 4 and me to be connected to when he is walking and one for 20 to use on 6 when she wants to walk. Just to ensure they are with us. 4 has a tendency to just take off when he sees something he likes.

 

[goofiecrazy]

Our last trip my son was 18 months and i had my mom make me a little name badge at work with his name,my name and our cell phone # on it in case something happened and he got lost.Thank god that didnt happen and we never even used it.

 

[lyzziesmom]

I made my girls "dog tags" at the pet store. Sometimes WalMart will have this machine as well. I didn't put too much information on it, just their first name and my cell phone number. I figured that's enough if they get lost. They have strict instructions to find a CM or another mom with kids and tell them they are lost and show their necklaces. The girls love the necklaces and I actually have them wear them any time we are in a crowded public place (the mall, the zoo, etc.) and they are very durable and inexpensive. I just bought cheap sturdy necklace chains at Goodwill to put the tags on.

 

[taylorsmommy05]

I made my girls "dog tags" at the pet store. Sometimes WalMart will have this machine as well. I didn't put too much information on it, just their first name and my cell phone number. I figured that's enough if they get lost. They have strict instructions to find a CM or another mom with kids and tell them they are lost and show their necklaces. The girls love the necklaces and I actually have them wear them any time we are in a crowded public place (the mall, the zoo, etc.) and they are very durable and inexpensive. I just bought cheap sturdy necklace chains at Goodwill to put the tags on.

what a great IDEA!! Love it!!
Love the picture of your dd drinking the beverly aswell!

 

[italianfamilia]

Originally Posted by lyzziesmom View Post
I made my girls "dog tags" at the pet store. Sometimes WalMart will have this machine as well. I didn't put too much information on it, just their first name and my cell phone number. I figured that's enough if they get lost. They have strict instructions to find a CM or another mom with kids and tell them they are lost and show their necklaces. The girls love the necklaces and I actually have them wear them any time we are in a crowded public place (the mall, the zoo, etc.) and they are very durable and inexpensive. I just bought cheap sturdy necklace chains at Goodwill to put the tags on.


Perfect! That is the idea I was looking for. Thanks. I feel a little more relaxed now, not much, but just a tad.

 

[tjlovespooh]

We are bringing a harness/"leash" just in case DS doesn't want to sit in the stroller or hold hands. I also bought these http://www.tottoos.org/

I like the badge idea too

 

[Tigge50447]

I have a small card I got from the fair one year, actually we got several and when I go on trips such as these, or even sometimes I carry one in my purse it has a current photo of my son, I normally have one that is sealed in the card and one loose one, this way I can give one to whoever is helping me find him, god for bid he gets lost and I can carry the other.

I'm sure it's hard if you say "I'm looking for a blond 7 year old boy with a blue shirt one and tan pants" at walt disney world there must be a few 100 of them walking around.

Pictures, pictures, pictures......

I also heard of people making braclets out of beads with the parent's cell phone number on it.

 

[bellarella]

I just wrote our cell phone numbers and names on a piece of masking tape and taped it to the inside hem of their tshirts -- nothing that could be seen from the outside, but easy for them to show someone if they needed to.

I also took a digital photo each morning so we could show exactly what they were wearing.

 

[Hope73]

Our first trip I just mad a bracelet with my cell phone on it.

 

[graygables]

I ordered military dogtags from www.gotags.com for our first trip. I grew up in the Army and we had to wear them all the time. I put DDs and our names, cell and home phones. On the back, I used a label maker to put our resort and the resort phone # (so I could peel it off for the next time).

Now, I made them bracelets from a company called Steel My Heart (PM me for more info) that they personalized the outside how they liked and the inside has the pertinent information, including one DD's medic-alert advisory. They come in sizes from infant to adult.

 

[bookworm2]

The Unofficial Guide mentions writing your cell phone number on the kids' arms in Sharpie. I actually think I might do this! It also warns against something that has their name printed on it, as someone could see it and call them by name, making the kid more likely to go with that person.

 

[jamesmommy]

Those of you who are putting ids "hidden" on your child, I would only do this if you are certain that your child is capable of showing it to someone. I am pretty sure I have read elsewhere that CMs are not able to look inside of a shirt, shoe, etc for id. Hopefully someone will come and verify for me. I usually use the id tags available at guest services and hang it from ds's belt loop. Put our names and cell phone #'s on it. You can see it hanging, even with a longer shirt. The info is written on it with ball point pen, someone would have to be very close to us to read any of the info on the tag.

Amie

 

[kmccartney]

I did two things: First I made an engraved heart shaped "Doggie Tag" from the machine at Walmart. I pinned this to the front of DD's shirt with a diaper pin (she is 4) . Second thing I did was actually write her name and my cell phone number inside of her sneakers with a Sharpie Marker. She knew what both were for because we talked about it a lot before we left and even after we got there.

 

[italianfamilia]

WOW some awesome tips. I did find the machine at Walmart and am going to make some dog tags for them and I like the idea of the phone number on their arms somewhere, maybe on their leg. I do not like to put their names out there for the public to see. We have been talking this week what to do if they happen to get lost. Thanks to all, mom to mom, we all know that this is the last thing we want to happen, but this has given me some great ideas. Thanks again and everyone have some great trips!

 

[redskinsfan]

I am the type that doesn't let the kids out of my sight for a moment, and my husband is as aware as I am. We taught them what to do in an emergency so we feel like we're as prepared as anyone can be. We're big fans of Tottoos (tottoos.org) because we've used other types of ID tags before but I personally don't like the idea of strangers having to get super close to my kids to read a necklace; the print on them is really small.

We went to Disney last weekend (4/21) with my son 8 and daughter 6. We were at the Magic Kingdom, and we've been there many times before. We were headed toward the carousel and my son ran over to the Sword in the Stone and asked us to take his picture while he tried to pull it out. My husband took a picture, then told him to do it again so he could zoom in better, and I took the camera to look at the pictures he took. We're talking about 10 seconds. Then we noticed that our daughter wasn't with us and we all started calling out for her. In less than a minute everything went from having a great day together to sheer terror, because she isn't the type to wander away and we were thinking the worst. She's a beautiful girl, and she disappeared away from us without a sound.

Then my husband's cell phone rang. It was a family down by the Small World ride with our daughter and said they would wait with her until we got there.

When we got close our daughter came running up and said she was so sorry. The mom told me that if our number wasn't right there on her hand, they would not have known what to do. She said she wouldn't have felt comfortable checking around to look for bracelets or ask her for personal information. She said she saw our number right away. I told her we were by the carousel and if she hadn't called we would have had a dilemma...to keep searching the park or to go to security. We would have split up. It would have been an awful night. She told me this was great for people who find a lost child because it's so non-invasive and asked me where she could get them for her kids.

As it turned out my daughter saw someone walking by in a Tinkerbell costume in a crowd of people and thought she was a Disney employee. She started following her because she thought we would want to have a picture taken with her. When she realized it wasn't "the real Tinkerbell" she started looking for us in the wrong direction, and that's when this kind family saw her by herself and called us.

Just wanted to share my story and this info with you.

 

[tjlovespooh]

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your tottoo story. It makes me feel even better about having bought some for our first trip with our DS17mo.
Just out of curiousity, what did you have your tottoos printed to read? I went with the standard one featured on the site, I guess I lack originality.

 

[crisi]

We've done the Sharpie thing.

The first year I did the tag thing - but the tags were easily lost or left attached to yesterday's shirt/shoes/whatever we'd attached them to. That's when we grabbed a ballpoint from a CM and just wrote the phone number on the arm.

We also make sure to introduce the kids to CMs, pointing to the WHITE name badge (I HATE the guest of honor badges, I think they are the perfect pedophile bait, and I'm not normally paranoid about that) and saying if they get lost they should find one of "Mickey's Friends" and show them the phone number.

 

[disney_fan_fam]

My older two are old enough to know their first and last names, both parents names, but could not remember our cell phone numbers so I wrote them on the inside tongue of their shoes (Vans) with sharpie. (ages 8 and 4) They knew that if they were to get lost to stay calm, go into a store and find a CM with a name tag and they'll help you.

We talked through a bunch of scenarios way before our trips.

 

[jenjersnap]

Those of you who use tottoos: How are they applied? Like the el cheapo ones with water and rubbing? Do they stay on for more than one day? The cheap ones don't stay on that well and, at a dollar apiece, I am hoping they adhere better. (They should add this info to their site!)

 

[lovethattink]

I spent the other Thursday in the Baby Care Center entertaining my son and a lost girl. The baby care center was swamped. The attendant there sat the girl next to my 3 year old son and told her who she was and to stay there and not leave. The poor child looked so scared. A few minutes later, the CM came up to her to tell her she was leaving and that this new cm would take her place if she needed anything. The poor girl was so frightened. My dh and I were ready to leave, but my son was coloring with the girl so we decided to stay and help keep her mind off of things. Again that cm was busy helping other parents make purchases and things in a different room. This child was not really under adult supervision, except for me and dh. We were there about an hour with her, when the photopass guy who initially found her came and sat beside her. He remained there, until her mom came shortly afterwards.

While sitting with the photopass guy, he suggested that the parent's cell phone number be written on the child's wrist. He suggested that an older child know what the parents are wearing.