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A mum has revealed a vital tip for parents who lose their children in public places, and it’s worth hearing about. Here she is explaining it in the video below.
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare – you’re out and about in a crowded place and suddenly you realise that your child has gone missing.
Perhaps they were just walking by your side, or perhaps they were in a pram, but the visceral horror of the situation is something that no-one should have to go through.
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It can happen easily too, in a shopping mall, supermarket, or even just on a crowded street.
Now, one mother who has experienced that horrendous moment of fear has shared what she did when her child went missing in the supermarket, as well as some top tips for parents on how to handle the situation, including recommending the ‘looking loudly’ method.
The mum, who goes by @jesmartini on TikTok, said that after her young son wandered away from her in a shop, she utilised this technique to find him and would advise others to do the same.
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She explained: "If you're at an amusement park, zoo, mall, whatever it is, and you look around and your child is no longer with you, what you want to do is start loudly looking for them. Do not start silently looking for them,
"You want to look loudly, and what I mean by that is you start shouting their description while you look. It's going to sound like this: I'm looking for a boy, age five, short brown hair, brown eyes, Caucasian, red Nike T-shirt, black shorts, black shoes.
"Now you've got every single person who’s around you looking for your child instead of just you, and best case scenario somebody finds your child and they return them to you."
It might sound so simple, but it’s definitely a piece of good advice.
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Getting as many people on hand to help in the search is important, but in that terrified moment it could be easily forgotten.
In the scenario that no-one wants to think about, the eventuality that someone has actually taken the child, hearing this sort of search might encourage them to let them go upon realising that they’d been noticed missing and everyone was helping to look.
Jess went on: "You may feel you look stupid doing it, and maybe you do, but it is so much better to look stupid than to be sorry.”
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She’s got other tips as well.
Jess continued: "Once I was at a play place and there were three brothers and they were all dressed in neon pink.
“The only thing I could focus on was those brothers because they stood out so much.”
She also recommends taking loads of pictures of your kids – which most parents do anyway – including just before heading out.
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That means you’ll be able to show what they look like, should the need arise.
Of course, we sincerely hope that you’ll never need this advice, but it’s still good to know and be prepared.
Tom Wood