Few things frighten a parent more than losing your child in a crowded place like a shopping center, zoo, or stadium. The moment you realize your child is missing, it’s impossible not to ignore the terrifying idea that they might have been kidnapped.
A woman in New Zealand recently lost her son in a Kmart but was able to locate him due to a potentially life-saving parenting hack she saw on TikTok a few months ago.
The woman was shopping at the store when she realized that her two-year-old son Nathan was missing. She immediately told a friend to warn the staff to make sure he didn’t exit through the exit at the front of the store.
“Another friend searched the area where he was last seen,” the mother wrote in a Facebook post.
The mother started looking for him by rummaging through clothes racks and running down the aisles.
It was the “scariest 10 minutes of my life,” she later wrote.
via Mike Kalasnik / Flickr
But then she remembered a parenting hack she’d seen on TikTok by blogger Jess Martini. “If your child goes missing, screw the cans and start shouting out their description,” the mother recalled.
‘I miss a little boy, he wears a yellow shirt and has brown hair. He is two years old and his name is Nathan! ‘ she called out to the rest of the store, reminding herself not to “break down” in tears.
“You need people who can hear you loud and clear,” she said.
The mother’s phone calls prompted everyone who heard them to immediately start looking for the child. It was like multiplying the search by a factor of 10. “I turned an aisle and heard ‘He’s here!’” She wrote. I turned as I came and there he was. A man walked past him after he heard me shout. ‘
She immediately thanked the man, realizing that if she hadn’t called, he might never have known the child was missing. “Nate would have walked past him and he wouldn’t have blinked,” she said.
In November, parenting blogger Jess Martini posted a video sharing the best way for parents to track down a missing child. It’s good advice as the response is usually to just call out their name or look around quietly.
“To all the parents out there, if your child is missing, don’t search in silence or just call out their name,” Martini says in the video. “Shout it out loud and clear. Tell them they are missing, describe and repeat, repeat, repeat!”
“Everyone will be on the alert, and if someone tries to get away with your child, it will reduce the chances of them getting away,” she added.
The advice is a good reminder to write down in your mind what your child is wearing when you go out, so if they get lost, you can easily describe them. It also proves that when a parent needs help, most people are more than willing to lend a hand.
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