Share your best SAFETY tips for kids in the parks

[love2flyatl]

Ex-CM here. I will give you some suggestions.

Point 1:
CMs can not take anything off your child so if you are going to put a number on them please make sure it is visible with out having to remove clothing or your child can be trusted to show it to the CM they ask for help. The tattoos are great so is the sharpie but a CM can not push up a child's shirt to check for that so make sure your little ones know to show it! Same thing with the dog tag, your little ones have to remember to show it to the CM.

Point 2:
Once you alert a CM to your lost child, stay with that CM! Too many times I would have a mother come up to me and say "My child is lost they are wearing xyz can you help me find them" and then by the time the word Yes was out of my mouth they were running to the next CM. So we would find the kid and have no way to reach mom! If you loose your child it is always best for at least 1 party member to stay with the 1st CM you tell.

Point 3:
Phone numbers are great but a CM may not be able to call if they find your child. So even if your child has your phone number on them please know it could be 5-10 minutes after they are found before they are taken to a non-safety critical location or passed off to a manager to be taken to the baby care center, etc.

Point 4:
When I worked any child under 7 went to baby care and any child 7 and over went to Guest Relations. It was best to check there if you were close. If you aren't close CMs should be calling that location as soon as they put the lost child call out over the radio.

Point 5:
Make sure your kids know how to describe you if they are old enough to do so. It helps CMs match parents to children in a big crowd before we make a park wide call if your 5 year old can say what mommy or daddy look like. Perhaps a key feature that would be easy to spot like Mommy was wearing a bright pink bow or a green shirt with our name on it etc. Not everyone wears something like that but if you do point it out to your kids.


Final point:
If your child is non-verbal, teach them to hand a note over to a CM. I have not worked for Disney for 2 years now and I still remember the 10 year old non-verbal boy who walked up to me on the edge of tears and handed me a laminated piece of paper. It said My name is ____ and I am non-verbal to strangers. I am lost. Please call my mommy at ______ if I hand you this. Thank you. We called his mom (broke the rules and used our cell phone on stage because to me non-verbal lost child = emergency find mom now) and mom came right to us. Watching that boy run into his mom's arms and her being so proud that he did it right was something that I'll always remember.

Thank you for what you did!
We are going for a day with two non verbal kids (2 and 3 years old) and feel very tense about it.
I ordered the safety tattoos with our cell numbers.

 

[Muskrat191]

We ordered silicone bracelets from Reminderband with my DH's cell phone number. Our kids wear them on their ankle. The kids have been taught to find a CM (for the first day or two we keep pointing out the name tags), and tell the CM that daddy's phone number is on the bracelet.

 

[dglilbit]

Lots of great tips in this thread, thank you!

 

[kjw42]

We made our own temp tattoos with special paper you can order online. They worked fine, but looked a little ratty by the end of the day and did not come off easy with soap and water. Next time I'll bring some individual alcohol wipes ( like the kind that come with first aid kits) to make removal easier.