Quite the scare this morning...heart still beating

[BikeBookBread]

My DH got up earlier than usual this morning, around 5:00. He went in to check on the girls before his shower, because he had heard a "thump". PDG was sound asleep in the top bunk, but LLL was GONE. Her bed was all messy. He came running back into our room, woke me up and said firmly, get your clothes on, "LLL" is not in her bed and I can't find her. Our home is only 1700 sf.

 

Panic mode. We start calling everywhere. No answer. I look under the bed, don't see her. Garage. Nothing for at least 5 minutes of looking.

 

Finally, we hear this very muffled, "yes....." from deep, deep under the bunk bed. She's cuddled up in the farthest corner back behind a sleeping back in a stuff sack (she's in a tiny ball), using a flashlight trying to find something under the bed.

 

I just held her for 5 minutes once we coaxed her out.

 

We don't know why she wouldn't answer, and why she wouldn't come out. DH wasn't happy, but we were relieved. This is the second time she's done in this in 6 months, but we had forgotten about the first time (also under the bed). She got a firm, but loving lecture.

 

Good grief, what a start to the day.

[elise1mds]

Good Lord... I'm glad she's okay and you found her! That's frightening.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

We had similar scares with ds years ago. Once he was asleep under a pile of pillows and another time he was sort of tucked behind the dresser in his room. I still remember what a horrible feeling that was.

[delaney]

That is way more excitement than anyone needs in the morning! I once couldn't find DD #2 and panicked.....then I realized the lump in the bed covers was a bit bigger than it should be. There she was all bundled up at the bottom of the bed!

[MariannNOVA]

:w00t:

 

Glad everything is okay! :grouphug:

[aggieamy]

Whew. Scary indeed.

 

I had a much less scary version of that happen to me once. The girls used to have seperate rooms and I woke up one morning and was getting ready. I look in Cameran's room and she it not there. I have a heart attack and start looking for her. Pretty quickly she is found under Sophia's bed but I know that feeling of "missing kid". Horrible. Turns out that Cameran loved sleeping under there and made a routine of it. Now they have bunk beds. Problem solved.

[hornblower]

Oh gosh, this is so hard.

 

We attended a couple Search & Resce workshops organized for kids & the single BIGGEST thing they talked about over & over again is that kids must not fear punishment for hiding/running away/straying from the path.....

 

Too many times rescuers discover later that they were within feet of a child in the woods and the child was too scared to speak up; scared that they'd get in trouble from parents because they knew they were not supposed to be doing this. So they'd be kind of paralyzed with fear & would let the s&r person walk right on by......

 

Obviously you want to convey to your child the dangers of this & you want them to not do it. But if they DO do it, it's so hard to play it out right b/e if she gets in trouble now, then next time it happens will she be more scared & even more likely to continue hiding? What a dilemma.

 

One of mine was not a hider per se, he was just very silent. I'd 'lose' him & he'd be within feet of me & wouldn't necessarily make a noise when I called him. We spent a lot of time saying "if I call you, you NEED to call back loud" & I'd do it during the day when I knew exactly where he was. I'd just call his name & if he didn't answer, I'd walk right up to him & say 'remember, when you hear me call your name, you must respond so I know where you are. Let's try that again.' And I'd walk out of the room & call his name & then he'd say 'Here!' and I'd come back & say 'Oh GOOD!' and then I'd have a tickle fight or something fun.....

 

I didn't tell him we were practicing - I just did it whenever I thought of it.

 

I also took him to one of the S&R sessions when he was about 5? and the presentation did make an impression on him.

[BikeBookBread]

Oh gosh, this is so hard.

 

We attended a couple Search & Resce workshops organized for kids & the single BIGGEST thing they talked about over & over again is that kids must not fear punishment for hiding/running away/straying from the path.....

 

Too many times rescuers discover later that they were within feet of a child in the woods and the child was too scared to speak up; scared that they'd get in trouble from parents because they knew they were not supposed to be doing this. So they'd be kind of paralyzed with fear & would let the s&r person walk right on by......

 

Obviously you want to convey to your child the dangers of this & you want them to not do it. But if they DO do it, it's so hard to play it out right b/e if she gets in trouble now, then next time it happens will she be more scared & even more likely to continue hiding? What a dilemma.

 

One of mine was not a hider per se, he was just very silent. I'd 'lose' him & he'd be within feet of me & wouldn't necessarily make a noise when I called him. We spent a lot of time saying "if I call you, you NEED to call back loud" & I'd do it during the day when I knew exactly where he was. I'd just call his name & if he didn't answer, I'd walk right up to him & say 'remember, when you hear me call your name, you must respond so I know where you are. Let's try that again.' And I'd walk out of the room & call his name & then he'd say 'Here!' and I'd come back & say 'Oh GOOD!' and then I'd have a tickle fight or something fun.....

 

I didn't tell him we were practicing - I just did it whenever I thought of it.

 

I also took him to one of the S&R sessions when he was about 5? and the presentation did make an impression on him.

 

THANK YOU for sharing this.

 

DH just called LLL and told her just how much he loved her...it was a very sweet conversation. I'm going to show him this post, though, as he can be pretty firm about stuff...it comes across as scary, even though he's not trying to be...

[ChristusG]

Yikes!!! I'm so glad she was safe and sound! I hate that fear that suddenly panics you when you cannot find your child. There is nothing else like it.

[Wheres Toto]

We've had that happen a couple of times. I've always been amazed at the tiny little spaces the kids can fit into. In our case, our house is only 750 sq ft with only one closet they can get to, no underbed spaces (platforms with drawers) and a gate blocking the front door. There are only so many possibilities for them to hide so panic doesn't take long when we can't find one of them immediately.

 

We recently had a neighbor lose her 6 year old son. He was playing outside and then he wasn't there. Our whole neighborhood is bordered by a river, we have bears, etc. She called the police, the whole neighborhood was searching, very scary situation. It turned out the kid had gone into the house without anyone seeing him and gone to take a nap in his bed. They found him sleeping calmly.:glare:

[sparrow]

Yikes! My heart was pounding just reading your account!

[Holly]

When my DS was 18mo, I'd woken up and he wasn't in bed (I co-sleep with my youngest ones). I began searching all over the house for him and couldn't find him. I woke DH up and he started looking too. We were living in a big old 5BR house at the time. I finally found DS downstairs sleeping. He was curled up behind a clothes basket, so I didn't see him the first couple times I checked the living room. I was seriously panicking that he'd gone down the stairs in the dark. :eek: I started locking our bedroom door at night after that. :D

[BikeBookBread]

When my DS was 18mo, I'd woken up and he wasn't in bed (I co-sleep with my youngest ones). I began searching all over the house for him and couldn't find him. I woke DH up and he started looking too. We were living in a big old 5BR house at the time. I finally found DS downstairs sleeping. He was curled up behind a clothes basket, so I didn't see him the first couple times I checked the living room. I was seriously panicking that he'd gone down the stairs in the dark. :eek: I started locking our bedroom door at night after that. :D

 

AAACK!!!!!

 

Thanks for sharing your stories...and possible hiding places! I don't know how many times I"ve told LLL this morning how much I love her, and that she NEVER has to be afraid of Mommy and Daddy! She just keeps saying she was afraid to answer us because she thought she was in trouble. I have NO IDEA why she would think that....

[Anne]

I really liked Hornblower's "practicing" idea...

 

So glad your scare ended happily!!!

 

Anne

[Carrie12345]

Ugh! :grouphug:

 

I "lose" my kids disturbingly often. We have -1200sf and an open floor plan. No basement, attic, garage, secret rooms...

 

They've been in toy boxes (yes, they all have air holes!), in closets, in the back of dog crates (behind dogs), in laundry baskets, under desks, under billowy couch covers and in the (dry) shower.

 

My biggest fear is becoming immune to the panic!

[Pixie]

:grouphug:

 

I know that fear all too well.

 

About 2-3 years ago, we put the kids to bed, and dh and I went into our bedroom to watch TV. Around 11pm, on my way to the bathrrom I go to my youngest's bedroom to give her a kiss while she sleeps, she isn't there! We looked for her everywhere and couldn't find her. We were this close of calling the police when I found her all quiet in her sister's closet. She had gone to play in her sister's room and when she heard me call her, she thought she would be in trouble and hid. I have never been so scared in my life, I was sobbing of relief when we found her and she kept apoligizing once she realized how scared we were.

[Sasharowan]

I lost ds4 like this one time. I glanced into the room, he wasn't in bed. I checked my bed, he wasn't curled up with dad. Woke dad up, DS is missing, ds14 gets up to search. Finally dd pipes up from the top bunk, he's still here, I hear him snoring. Sure enough, you could still here him snore and by tracking them we found him between the bed and the wall, still sound asleep and snoring. After, we couldn't believe we were so panicked that we didn't notice the snores.

[5wolfcubs]

:seeya: Hope the day got better! The missing child feeling is the WORST.