What do you do to keep your child safe

[mommyceratops]

What type of measures have you gone to make sure your child does not get lost and is safe in Disney?

I have a 2 and 5 year old. I have stressed to my 5 year old about holding hands but my 2 year old is clueless! LOL! I plan him being in his stroller when we are walking around but I am worried about waiting for rides and shows.

I have been thinking about a harness but my husband is against that?

What do you do?

Thanks

 

[MissSixty]

Just as you would any other day, NEVER take your eyes off of them, not for a second. Never Never Never.

 

[lclark0621]

I NEVER take my eyes off my DS (2.5). But we also use a saftey harness on him when we are in WDW. My DS HATES his stroller, and will only use it when he is really tired. Other then that, he just wants to walk walk walk! So we use the saftey harness.

It is just a little extra added security for us.

Also I have a tag on the back of his shoes that has his name & our cell numbers on it.

 

[pixiepower1971]

With a 2 year old that wants to walk I would use a harness!

I would also put your cell phone # somewhere that it cant get lost on him...maybe even write it on HIM! He can't lose it then. Sharpie works well My girls wear dog tags that have their name and my cell phone #
If they are scared it can be hard to remember the # even if they are older or if they were hurt emergency crew would see it.

 

[3littleHalls]

Since DH is going with...I have extra eyes to help watch. We assign a kid to a parent to be a buddy. Also we have have a strict rule..."If you can't see me...you are in trouble!" We will leave the store if they run ahead of me and they cannot lay eyes on me. I have 3 small ones so that is a deal breaker. My kids wouldn't dare run the chance of having to leave the park. My kids are pretty well behaved. The older two(6 and 3) stay by our sides no problems the 18mo like to play the runaway game, but I try not to budge. Good luck on your trip.

 

[kellyg403]

We did the buddy system as well...but we did momentarily lose ds 9 when he was looking through his binoculars at the animals at AK. VERY scary moment. We all pleasantly moved on through the forest until his buddy said where is Jamie? The most important lesson, never move on til everyone has their buddy insight! That being said the buddy system worked for us!

Kelly

 

[TravelinGal]

There are some really cute new harness styles that look like stuffed animal backpacks (a dog and a monkey are the two I'm aware of). Here's one on eBay that I saw (I don't know the seller, so I'm not trying to get a sale for them -- just providing a link so you can see it). They also have the monkey style - just view all sellers items and you should see it.

Maybe your DH would object less if he saw these since they don't look like you're putting you DC on a dog leash and/or treating them like an animal. (which is, I assume, why he is objecting)

If we love our dogs enough to leash them to keep them safe, do we not love our children a million times more? Isn't it worth a few stupid parents stares to know your DC is safe? (not lecturing - but trying to give you some ideas on how to talk to your DH about it)

 

[tylersmommie]

We have the harness that TravelinGal is talking about for our DS (20 mos) and he loves it! People ususally comment on how cute it is rather than anything else. We bought ours at Walmart, I even think it was less than $10!

 

[Wendy31]

Last May, our DD was 5, & our DS was 3. So, when we were walking, I kept them in strollers - which worked out great! Ride lines were, of course, easy because there wasn't really anywhere for them to go.

We didn't go in stores very often (saved all our souvenir-shopping for our last day at DTD), but, when we did, they were both pretty good at staying right w/ either me or DH - when they weren't holding our hands.

Whenever they were out of the stroller (like in a store or something), I always felt like I had to keep my eyes glued to them - like I never really could "concentrate" on anything else because making sure that they were right there w/ me was the foremost thing in my mind.

We didn't try the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground because I had had heard that it was easy to lose "sight" of your child. We did do the dinosaur playground at AK, and that was stressful enough! My DD is really good (she's shy) at staying where I can see her, but my DS would just take off running at the playground. The dinosaur playground was the only place that I felt frantic.

One other thing I did was to dress all 4 of us in the same color - it made it easier for me to spot them quickly. (MGM day was "red shirt" day, MK day was "green shirt" day, AK was "orange shirt" day, EPCOT was "blue shirt" day, etc.) It also made for pretty pictures too!

 

[SamIAm21]

The Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground is pretty unnerving for a lot of parents that's for sure. My daughter sort of got excited and just ran off in one direction when I was expecting her to come down the slide and come back around my way. I really disliked that play area anyway. Gave me the willies, but she loved it.

One thing that I used to help in case my daughter got lost was:

http://www.whosshoesid.com/index.asp?cat=134654

These things bring a bit of peace of mind!! As far as Disney goes, I told her that if she got separated from us, she was to go immediately to a Cast Member and tell them she was lost and show them the band. In each new area we went to, I pointed out what the CM's looked like in terms of what they were wearing.

 

[KimR]

Basically what others have said. The little ones stay in the stroller much of the time; when they want to get out and walk they must be holding someone's hand.

Still, we realize the unexpected can happen, especially when it is crowded, so we have a plan that we've gone over time and again. For the oldest (13), we've had a prearranged meeting place at each park and this year she will have her own cellphone, so I don't worry as much about her. We have taught the younger 2 how to spot a CM and have drilled it into their heads that if they get lost DO NOT PANIC, go find a CM. I really don't want them to panic, so I've explained many times over that if they get separated they need to realize that we will be looking for them and they can be sure that that they will be found. DH has a cellphone and my older ones know the number. For our next trip I am going to make my youngest learn the number as well as giving it to her and pinning it to the inside of her shirt. Fortunately, we've not had to use our plan yet, but it does give me peace of mind.

Oh, and we never, ever use the playgrounds. Those places make me insane.

 

[1of6]

My DD7 has a sticker maker that she got as a gift. I am going to make several stickers for each child that has my name and DH name (they know their own and this way the CM can check ID), our cell phone #'s and our hotel. I plan on putting a sticker inside everyone's shoe.

We also will use the buddy system. We are traveling with my mom and Aunt so each adult will have a child for the day.

We have 3 days of matching shirts for all 8 of us and then a color of the day for the other 3 days.

Many people take a digital picture of the kids every morning before heading out. Now you have a picture of them in the outfit they have on just in case.

 

[The Sweetness]

Ariel will be 2, and she will have 3 choices~ 1> stroller, 2> hold hands at all times, 3> harness buddy (looks like a teddy bear back pack, but has a lead to hold on to.

In addition, she will have a sticker on her back (so she wont fidget with it) with me and DH's cel # on it. We will have them on at all times. I wont put our names on the stickers as it was brought to my attn that a predator could gain the trust of a small child by knowing her name, or mom and dads names.

I have alot of anxiety about this as when dd14 was about 6, I lost her for about 30 seconds (the longest and scarriest of my life) as we were walking up the ramp for the monorail. A huge throng of people somehow got between us. Needless to say my heart stopped for that eternal half minute DD still reaches for my hand in huge crowds

 

[dbarker]

DS has a "name tag" w/the following info:

My name is J. Doe
I am X years old
My parents are John and Jane Doe
We are staying at All Star ZZZZZ
Cell #: (XXX) XXX-XXXX

I always point out the CMs and explain that if he loses me, then he is to find a CM and show them his name tag.

Also, we hold hands at all times. If I need free hands he has to hold onto my shirt. We also have the rule that if he cannot obey, we leave.

I never put a child's first name in print on anything on their body. Last name only.

 

[crisi]

We did a harness when both our kids were toddlers. I simply can't keep my eyes on them - even with two parents, I need to watch where I am going - we do need to shop, we need to look at the park map. My son was always a "dasher" - he could be gone in the blink of an eye. My daughter is a demanding dwaddler - she is really easy to leave behind while she would stand and start daydreaming - or just move really slowly. The harness was handy for the first few days, but the kids quickly learned that in crowded they WANTED to stay close to Mom and they really weren't necessary for the whole trip.

More though we kept both kids in the stroller most of the time. That lowered the chances that they were going to dart when we needed to know where they were.

We had extra eyes for that trip for part of it - my parents joined us. That also gave us extra backs and extra arms.

Finally, we tagged the kids and showed them how to find Mickey's friends. When we lost the tags, we wrote cell phone numbers on their arms with Sharpie markers - which is what we still do (they are six and seven now).

Avoid those playgrounds. The Honey I shrunk the Kids is the worst (it was fun this year when our kids were six and seven), but its easy to get lost at the Boneyard as well.

 

[lorli]

This has never been a big issue because our DD (4) is an only child and rides in the stroller and holds hands or is carried in the lines. 2 sets of adult eyes has made this even easier. I have always been very cautious of her even when not at Disney so all the safety precautions came naturally.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Have you tried duct tape? Just Kidding! I have 3 kids- ds 3years dd 2 years and ds 3 months, so I know what you mean when you say your 2 year old is not so interested in holding hands. My dd is very strong willed so it can be a bit of a challenge sometimes but what we do is keep everyone in strollers if we are walking. They have no choice. We haven't had any problems with this- BUT- if our kids scream about it we aren't bothered. It is for their safety. We do try to go to areas where they can walk and run a bit so they don't feel so confined all day in the stroller. Usually just a quiet area of whatever park we are at. We tried a wrist harness on our first trip with ds(he was 2 at the time) but it just wasn't for us. Not that we have a problem with it but it was awkward and I can assure you that if we used it with my dd she would rip it off and fasten her end to a pole!!! She is that quick and determined! That being said- I think you just have to watch them the way you would anywhere else. Try to avoid playgorunds that are easy to lose sight if them at and you will be fine. Have a great trip!!!

 

[Amirah95]

We only have one DD10 and we took her on her first trip at age 8 so we didn't have to worry about Safety. We still do the tag on her wrist (we made it out of beads and charms -can't tell it's a tag) and she knows to go to a CM just in case we split up.

 

[all4fun]

There are some really cute new harness styles that look like stuffed animal backpacks (a dog and a monkey are the two I'm aware of). Here's one on eBay that I saw (I don't know the seller, so I'm not trying to get a sale for them -- just providing a link so you can see it). They also have the monkey style - just view all sellers items and you should see it.

Maybe your DH would object less if he saw these since they don't look like you're putting you DC on a dog leash and/or treating them like an animal. (which is, I assume, why he is objecting)

If we love our dogs enough to leash them to keep them safe, do we not love our children a million times more? Isn't it worth a few stupid parents stares to know your DC is safe? (not lecturing - but trying to give you some ideas on how to talk to your DH about it)

They do have this harness at Walmart and Target where we live too. They are $10 at both places. I saw quite a few people using these at Disneyland on our last trip and thought it was too cute. I even considered getting one for ds but now that he's getting older he's also getting much better at holding my hand and yes! actually listening to me, lol. Fortunately at Disney he's pretty good about staying in his stroller. I have used a regular harness with him though during times he wanted to walk - just because he can be faster than me and I was worried he's run out in front of someone or something and get hurt. It came in really handy when we were climbing steps on Tarzan's treehouse while waiting for dh to finish riding the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland (CA). I was able to keep him from falling and he had both of his hands to use to learn to climb the steps himself (he has some motor skill delays so this was also really good for him).

 

[cwf1028]

Can't say enough how important it is to also have a picture and discription of your child. I like the idea someone said of taking a digital picture each morning in what they will be wearing for the day. We have "ID" cards from a company that our preschool offers that we update each year with picture, weight, height, eye color, hair color and then each morning I add a post it with a discription of their clothing. We also "sticker" them with our cell phone number and point out what the CMs look like. Other than that we just watch them like a hawk!