A parent's worst fear

[Mom-ninja.]

is not knowing where your child is. There is *nothing* in the world that makes everything else become unimportant, and make your heart drop to the ground and breathing becomes difficult.

 

 

I could not find my 3 yr old for ten minutes at Target yesterday. It was the worst ten minutes of my life.

 

All three boys were standing right next me, and I was pulling a box off a shelf. I put the box in the cart and saw he was gone. I asked my 11 and 8 yr old where he was. Response, "I dunno know. He went that way." I wanted to scream, "And you just let him keep walking when you saw him leaving?! What is wrong with you?!!!" I didn't. Instead I ran up and down the main aisle looking down all the side aisles for him. Nothing. My other two boys were still standing there. I sent them to the toy department to look. Then I walked to an employee and told her he was missing. She sent the code out which got every employee looking, and she assured me that no one with a small child would be allowed to leave the store. However, that did NOTHING to reassure me.

 

I couldn't breath. I started to run, and the employee told me I had to stay with her so they would know where I was when they found him. I looked at her (with a crazy glare in my eye I'm sure) and told her that there was no force in the world that would make me just stand there and not continue searching. I took off. I was running up and down aisles. The target lady was running after me. People were staring. I saw employees at every turn talking into their walkie talkies yet no one had found him.

 

A security guard caught up to me, and said that when he had heard from each department and my ds had not been found, he would call the police. I almost vomited.

 

At that moment I heard a woman say,"Your mommy and a lot of people are looking for you." I bolted over. She had found him hidden in a rack of jeans. He had crawled up and covered himself with jeans. She said she happened to notice a pair of jeans move as she walked by.

 

He had a huge smile on his face and he said, "Me hiding, mommy."

 

I have never wanted to hug and shake my child at the same time. I was happy and angry all in one. I wanted to kiss him; I wanted to spank him.

 

Ten minutes had gone by since I alerted the employee. Ten minutes of sheer panic.

 

I have decided that he will be forced to sit strapped in the shopping cart until he is 16. I don't care how much he protests.

[SailorMom]

Oh yes - been there.

Thankfully it was only a few minutes - but time just seemed to stop.

:grouphug:

[k2bdeutmeyer]

Oh my goodness!!! That must've been awful. I've lost my DS once, but it was only for a minute at most and I was terrified.

 

I'm so glad he was found safe. So, so scary. I could totally see my DS doing the same thing.

[Anne in CA]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

This happened to me when my son was 3 also. Worst fifteen minutes of my life. I was watching him play in the yard and my boss called on the phone. I talked to my boss while watching him then went inside to hang up the phone. When I came back out he was gone.

 

He had gone into a neighbors's house to play with their dog. They thought they had seen me watch him come in. UM , NO I HAD NOT. I had called the police, sure he had been taken. He could not have been out of my sight for 30 seconds.

[Jennifer in MI]

is not knowing where your child is. There is *nothing* in the world that makes everything else become unimportant, and make your heart drop to the ground and breathing becomes difficult.

 

 

I could not find my 3 yr old for ten minutes at Target yesterday. It was the worst ten minutes of my life.

 

All three boys were standing right next me, and I was pulling a box off a shelf. I put the box in the cart and saw he was gone. I asked my 11 and 8 yr old where he was. Response, "I dunno know. He went that way." I wanted to scream, "And you just let him keep walking when you saw him leaving?! What is wrong with you?!!!" I didn't. Instead I ran up and down the main aisle looking down all the side aisles for him. Nothing. My other two boys were still standing there. I sent them to the toy department to look. Then I walked to an employee and told her he was missing. She sent the code out which got every employee looking, and she assured me that no one with a small child would be allowed to leave the store. However, that did NOTHING to reassure me.

 

I couldn't breath. I started to run, and the employee told me I had to stay with her so they would know where I was when they found him. I looked at her (with a crazy glare in my eye I'm sure) and told her that there was no force in the world that would make me just stand there and not continue searching. I took off. I was running up and down aisles. The target lady was running after me. People were staring. I saw employees at every turn talking into their walkie talkies yet no one had found him.

 

A security guard caught up to me, and said that when he had heard from each department and my ds had not been found, he would call the police. I almost vomited.

 

At that moment I heard a woman say,"Your mommy and a lot of people are looking for you." I bolted over. She had found him hidden in a rack of jeans. He had crawled up and covered himself with jeans. She said she happened to notice a pair of jeans move as she walked by.

 

He had a huge smile on his face and he said, "Me hiding, mommy."

 

I have never wanted to hug and shake my child at the same time. I was happy and angry all in one. I wanted to kiss him; I wanted to spank him.

 

Ten minutes had gone by since I alerted the employee. Ten minutes of sheer panic.

 

I have decided that he will be forced to sit strapped in the shopping cart until he is 16. I don't care how much he protests.

 

I'm SOOOOO sorry you went through that. Unfortunately, I know the run of emotions all too well. Gotta' say - the day that another lady found my ds hiding in a rack of clothing (he had climbed under the dressing room door where my older ds was trying on clothes - both were WAY too young to be left alone) was the last day I took him out in public for a VERY long time.

 

:grouphug:

[Karen in CO]

:grouphug:

I'm happy he was found so quickly. I lost my ds in a store when he was about 3 (he had also decided to hide). It still gives me nightmares.

[KrissiK]

:grouphug: I am so sorry. I'm fortunate my kids havem't been wanderers yet. But I was panicked for you as I read your post.

[mommybee]

:grouphug:

 

Yep! Been there, done that!

[Jennifer3141]

I'm so glad you found him safe and sound. And isn't it funny how you can just tell that 10 minutes sheared about 7 years off your heart's normal lifespan??? :grouphug:

[Perogi]

I'm so glad that you found him - 10 minutes is an eternity in that situation.

 

The other night my 4yo cried out in the middle of the night but when I got to his room he wasn't in his bed, I didn't see him anywhere, called his name and he didn't answer. I went to the bathroom and then to our bedroom looking and then started to panic. I had all the stories of kids snatched right out of their beds running through my mind. I ran back to his room and called his name again - and he answered. He had fallen out of bed and was curled up between his bed and his dresser. It was a wonderful/awful feeling.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

I know that feeling. When ds1 was 3, he was totally into Thomas the Tank Engine, and we went for Day Out with Thomas, where you get to ride in a real train pulled by Thomas. Afterward, we were in a huge tent where they had merchandise for sale and train tables set up. I asked dh to keep an eye on the boys who were playing at the train table, while I went to go pay for a couple of T shirts. I get back to the train table and ds1 was nowhere to be seen. My husband had no clue he had even walked away. I was insane! I ran frantically all over the place, and the whole place was packed with people. I finally found him wandering around near the entrance to the tent about 5 minutes later.

 

That was the longest 5 minutes of my life. Well, that and the time ds2 took some of my mother's heart medication when he was 2. :glare:

 

I'm glad you found your son, and I agree about keeping him strapped to the cart until he's 16.

[Parrothead]

:grouphug:

What a nightmare that must have been for you. I'm so sorry you had to live through that.

[CroppinIt]

:grouphug: I'm so sorry you went through this, but I'm so THANKFUL HE'S SAFE!!! (Until he got home, that is... :) )

[melissad2]

My 5yo and 2yo went around the back of the house yesterday while I was sitting on the porch and usually they come running when I call...well yesterday they did not and didn't answer me! My heart dropped as I went running around the back of the house calling them. I found them on the backside of the pool where the are not supposed to be...needless to say my 5yo got in big trouble for not answering me!

[JudoMom]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

I lost my ds8 when he was 5 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Terrifying.

[besroma]

I agree....it is a horrible feeling. DS17 decided to go to another store in the mall when he was three! One minute right next to me, the next, at the store next door.

 

Malls are even scarier to me because of the multiple exits.

 

I am so glad you found him!:grouphug:

[TheReader]

:grouphug:

 

I don't think you're overreacting at all. I'd keep him strapped in the cart until he's 18 and a legal adult.

 

:grouphug:

 

I once faced this panic when I "lost" my son in my very own house. Totally locked doors and everything, yet couldn't find him. I was convinced that someone had grabbed him while he let the dog out, locked the door behind themselves to fool us, and long ago escaped.

 

Turned out, DS was asleep. Under the very chair I'd been sitting in (one of those big round papasan chairs). Still the scariest few minutes of my life.

 

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[joannqn]

BTDT too.

 

My daughter was about 20 months old she walked out our front door and went for a walk. We has just moved into a rental, and the front door was broken. It didn't always latch when you shut it. I called the police, sent DD to the pond down one street, send DS down the street the other way, and told my four year old to stay put and don't move. About ten minutes later, someone called the police with a missing toddler. She was three blocks away, barefoot, in the cold and rain when they found her. The property manager fixed the door the very next day.

[happyhomemaker25]

When Jonathan was five we were walking back to the car after an airshow. Dh was pushing my mom in a wheelchair and I had the baby in her sling. The car was in front of us and all the kids were in front of us. All of a sudden I did not see J. Panic is not even a strong enough word to describe how I felt. We were all yelling for him. He was hiding on the other side of the car. I started yelling at him to never ever do that again. I was terrified for the two minutes he was lost.

[kalanamak]

I've only lost kiddo once, and it was at a WTM potluck at my house! I had only one fear: the pond. Instead, he'd walked happily off with some pre-teens who took a wrong turn. They were having a lovely stroll. Everyone else there had 5 kids, and took it all in stride. I hope I appeared the composed hostess!

[Princess Peach]

I've been there. :grouphug:

 

This happened to me in a Target when DS8 was 3 yo, too. They called a code yellow and found him about 2-3 minutes later. I could barely lift him to put him up into the cart, but he rode in one from then on.

[kalanamak]

 

At that moment I heard a woman say,"Your mommy and a lot of people are looking for you." I bolted over. She had found him hidden in a rack of jeans. He had crawled up and covered himself with jeans. She said she happened to notice a pair of jeans move as she walked by.

 

 

 

Ah, the great place to hide! I work with DD men who've hurt children. One day I was in Target and one came by with his mother and a staffer from the hospital. I FLUNG my boy in hanging pants and told him to hide like a baby bunny.

 

We now have a code which means step away from me and look unrelated to me. Hubby knows it, too. I know these murderers and rapists know my face, but I don't want them to know the faces of my family.

[gardenmom5]

:grouphug: I understand, it only takes about two seconds. 1ds was never "lost" (I lost count of how many times he took off.). I might not know where he was, but *he* always knew where he was. :glare: He never seemed to notice I wasn't with him, nor did he seem to care. I think my blood pressue started going down about the time he hit 10/11/12 years old.

 

eta: I want them to bring back the little boy leashes my mother used on my brother.

Edited April 10, 2012 by gardenmom5

[QuirkyKapers]

:grouphug: Oh yes! My son did this at Grandmas when he was 3. We couldn't find him anywhere. He had crawled in a hole in the neighbors camper and was inside. Worst. feeling. ever.

[Wolfmeis]

BTDT, in Target even. It's horrible. And the kids are so PROUD of themselves, aren't they?

[woolybear]

:grouphug: I know that feeling. Glad he was okay, though.

[chickenpatty]

(((hugs)))! We lost youngest dd for about a minute in a very crowded place when she was 3, and I still get sick to my stomach when I think of it.

[ravinlunachick]

I know exactly how you felt. My oldest dd wandered off in a Toys-R-Us when she was about 3, and they had to call a Code Adam. I had to stand by the front doors to inspect every child leaving to be sure it wasn't her, and I was a sobbing mess. About 10-15 minutes passed with no sign of her, and every worst-case scenario was playing out in my head. As it turned out, no one found her. She just came around a corner, walking towards the front, and asked me, "Mama, why are you crying?" I fell to my knees and held her.

 

My ds, who can not speak, also disappeared at a large children's museum, and we had to call for help as well. We found him much faster, but that's one of my biggest fears; that he'll get lost and not be able to get help because he can't speak. We've actually looked into purchasing GPS-enabled tracking devices for his shoes.

 

Blah blah, mememememe. Sorry, I forgot to add big :grouphug: for you. Go have a drink or a bar of chocolate, mama. You deserve it!

[lynn]

It is the most awful feeling. I have BTDT and when I told a Fry's employee I could not find my 4 year they did NOTHING but page ds a couple of times, like a 4 year old would go to customer service desk when he heard the page. My son had hid under a table display. I alone searched the store.

 

 

Another experience was seeing ayoung child by himself and no one looking for him. I felt obligated to stay with him and found a WM employee and told her the situation she took care of things from there. I stayed in the area and watched for someone looking around frantically for their child and noone. I guess it was 5 minutes before daddy came with a "there you are" as calm as could be.

Edited April 10, 2012 by lynn

[Farrar]

BTDT. A few times with my little escape artist. The worst was in a foreign country. For more than half an hour. We laugh now because it worked out fine, but oy was I in tears when he was found.

[kalanamak]

 

eta: I want them to bring back the little boy leashes my mother used on my brother.

 

They still have them. We used them for a few months when kiddo was prone to lightening fast bolts after (another Target!) kiddo suddenly bolted for a shiny display, and pulled the whole things down in about 2 seconds.

[Canadianmumof5]

Oh my word. You poor mama. :grouphug:

 

It hasn't happened to me.......yet.

 

But while I was away travelling in the US on business last week, DH sent me a text AFTER THE FACT, telling me that he had lost Chunky for 10 minutes. He could not find him anywhere. He had lost him in the house though.......a little different. But Chunky does know how to open the front door if someone doesn't put the security latch on. So he was pretty panicked. Eventually he found him playing in the garage.

 

Yes, this is the same husband that called me while I was out shopping a few months ago to tell me "please don't freak ............but chunky has super glue all over his hands" Apparently he didn't learn the lesson about closely supervising a toddler :glare:

[DarlaS]

:grouphug:

 

I lost one of my boys at Disney World when he was 4 (His 4th b-day was the next day.).

 

If you're going to lose a kid, do it at Disney. They found him in about 3 minutes. It really did seem like an eternity.

 

He will be 15 in two weeks. Keeping track of this has always been a challenge. :tongue_smilie: I had to eventually relent on strapping him to a cart or stroller. Until he was about 13, he would still absentmindedly sometimes reach for my hand though. ;)

[speedmom4]

I found a little boy at Walmart. He did not speak English and was crying. They finally found his mother and she seemed completely unrattled. I was furious as she looked so nonchalant about the whole situation.

 

Glad you found your little boy quickly!

 

Elise in NC

Edited April 10, 2012 by speedmom4
iPhone autocorrect

[felicity]

I took my ds9 to the outdoor outlet mall with me when he was 22 months. We were in the Gap and I turned to look at a shirt. He was a my feet. I put the shirt back and went to grab his hand and he was gone. I looked around the rack, then around he next rack and realized he wasn't there. I told the next sales person and they closed the store. By now I was running through the store calling his name and realizing that he wasn't there. They contacted mall security to close the mall down, but there were so many exits it was almost impossible. Minutes went by and I started thinking about how to tell my dh that I'd lost our son.

 

Finally 25 minutes later a mall security guard found him and brought him back to the Gap. They found my very blond child walking next to (not with) an Asian family and thought it was strange so they looked again and recognized Sam from my description. He was within 3 feet of the parking lot and end of the property.

 

I grabbed him and fell to the ground crying with relief. A little old lady near me had the nerve to tell me to calm down and not to scare him. I didn't bother to respond.

 

All of this to say I've been there and I'm sorry you went through that. I still remember the terror I felt that day.

[coralloyd]

We lost my middle dd when she was 5 at the zoo. People thought I was nuts as I ran crying and screaming her name! My stomach was in my throat. Scariest day of my life!

[RegularMom]

(((((((((hugs)))))))))

 

Been there.

 

Last summer, we lost track our 11yo at the lake. For an hour.

 

She was supposed to be riding a little bit ahead of us back to the play area, but went a little further and then took a wrong turn. While she was heading down that wrong path, we walked by its entrance and on to the play area. Then she came out of the wrong turn and went THE OTHER WAY, BACK AROUND THE BIG LAKE to try to find us, instead of just continuing on the Very Little Way to the play area.

 

We waited a little while and then RegularDad jumped on our 8yo's bike and started riding around looking for her. I stayed at the play area with the dogs and our 8yo, waiting to see if our older would turn up. We talked on our cell phones back and forth, but we couldn't find her anywhere.

 

I was actually on the phone with 911 DESCRIBING WHAT SHE WAS WEARING to the operator when she suddenly turned up in the play area.

 

I've never been so confused as a parent. On one hand, I wanted to throttle her. On the other, I wanted to hold her and never let go. RegularDad could barely talk to her for the rest of the day.

 

We haven't been back to the lake since.

[amy g.]

I lost my 16 year old in the Louvre for several hours. When we found him, he had no idea that we had not been right behind him the entire time.

[fraidycat]

BTDT. I've lost years off my life thanks to my children and their disappearing acts. Neither of my kids have the fear gene in them. No matter how many times I tell them to stay right with me because there are "mean people who like to be mean to kids" who could take them. Clothes racks are still fun to hide in for DS6. Ugh! Luckily it's never been for 10 minutes, but 2 minutes can feel like 2 hours, I know. :grouphug: I'm so sorry you had to go through that.

 

All this to say that I don't care one whip what people think about "kid leashes", when we went to Disneyland when DD was 15 months old and DNiece was 4 - BOTH kids had harnesses with a leash.

 

I went to Universal Orlando in my pre-child days. There, there was a fairly large family, and each and every person thought that "someone else had the baby", so a whole family walked away and left a baby sitting in a stroller in the middle of a walkway. I was traveling with a large group of travel agents and we had a VIP tour so were with a park attendant who called it in when we noticed that the baby seemed to have no one with it. We "circled the wagon" while the park employees were getting their ducks in a row to take the baby to the lost child area when the mother came flying out of the crowd at full speed to claim her child. It only took one look at her face (stark terror) to confirm that she was, in fact, the mother.

Edited April 10, 2012 by fraidycat

[saraha]

Oh honey, you definitely need to take the rest of the day off. And a nap. And a drink. And chocolate. And probably dinner delivered too.

 

I have actually lost two of mine. My oldest was 2 and we were at the dollar store, I had the car seat in the cart and their carts aren't big enough for two kids so he had to walk. It was Sat. and the store was crazy busy, and an old store, so the displays were packed close together. My son did the hiding in a clothes rack. When I realized he was gone, I began calling his name, but it was so crowded I couldn't push the cart. People around me caught on and were looking for him too. Suddenly I see this little old lady pull my son out of a clothing rack, give him a good shake and with as mean a voice as she could muster told him to never do that to me again. He started bawling. As I was pushing past people to get to him, she looked up and smiled and said, "He'll never do that again!" I mummbled some kind of thanks and headed back to my cart. When I got there another old lady frowned at me told me I should never leave my baby alone in a cart. I had left her in her car seat in the cart to get a hold of my son. I mummbled thanks to her too and just picked up the car seat and went out the door. By the time I got to the car I was crying. I put the baby in, swatted my 2 yo on the butt and went home to take a nap.

 

The other time my husband andI and all 6 of my kids were chaperoning a youth group trip to the mall. We had 2 in a double strollar, but the 4 year old had to walk. We were in the process of splitting up when someone walked over holding her hand. While my husband and I were so worried about the jr highers we had, we had let our 4 year old wander away. The lady said she had seen her walk away from us, so she brought her right back. I was so glad that gaurdian angel was there, because I hadn't even missed her yet, she had been holding daddy's hand and he thought she had walked over to go with me, and I thought she was with him. I started shaking when I realized what happened and that I hadn't even missed her yet.

[Belacqua]

Oh, how terrifying. Can you even breathe normally yet?

 

It is heartening, at least, to hear that the store had a solid plan in place for such an event (and seemed to know how to use it when needed).

[Mom-ninja.]

Our kids really do not understand what they do to us parents, do they? Not until they grow up and have their own kids.

 

 

DH came home with two bags of Dove chocolate, a bottle of rum, and a bottle of coke. He wasted no time in making me a drink, and then he cooked dinner.

 

 

When people say that being a parent is the hardest job in the world......that is the biggest understatement in the world.

[swellmomma]

Been there far too many times to count. It became so common that I was calmer when my child was missing than when he wasn't. When he was missing I could at least be doing something, when he wasn't I was filled with anxiety worrying that he would go missing.

 

You are absolutely right, the feeling is horrid. Though I have learned there is far worse feelings when it comes to dangers and your kids, so I can no longer say it is the worst feeling. Though for years and years it was.

[Lisbeth]

:grouphug: That is the worst! It would take me a long time to recover. I'm so glad you found him and nothing terrible happened. Every parent experiences that scary feeling once or twice - it is absolutely dreadful.

[brett_ashley]

I lost my 3 year old once at home. I had pulled the car up and realized I didn't have a house key (our house had been burglarized the week before and we had rekeyed everything). So I left the kids (3 yr old and 1 yr old) in the car and went around the back to go in through the house with the electronic keypad. When I got back to the car, my 3 year old daughter was not in her seat. I was 100% certain she had been kidnapped. I called 911 and the operator asked me how long she had been missing and I said, "I think about 30 seconds?" She said, "Um, okay, do you want to look around a bit more and call me back?" LOL!!!

 

Unbeknownst to me she was able to unbuckle herself from the carseat (never had done that before) and follow me around the back. She was on the swing without any clue anything was wrong.

[ereks mom]

is not knowing where your child is. There is *nothing* in the world that makes everything else become unimportant, and make your heart drop to the ground and breathing becomes difficult.

 

 

I could not find my 3 yr old for ten minutes at Target yesterday. It was the worst ten minutes of my life.

 

All three boys were standing right next me, and I was pulling a box off a shelf. I put the box in the cart and saw he was gone. I asked my 11 and 8 yr old where he was. Response, "I dunno know. He went that way." I wanted to scream, "And you just let him keep walking when you saw him leaving?! What is wrong with you?!!!" I didn't. Instead I ran up and down the main aisle looking down all the side aisles for him. Nothing. My other two boys were still standing there. I sent them to the toy department to look. Then I walked to an employee and told her he was missing. She sent the code out which got every employee looking, and she assured me that no one with a small child would be allowed to leave the store. However, that did NOTHING to reassure me.

 

I couldn't breath. I started to run, and the employee told me I had to stay with her so they would know where I was when they found him. I looked at her (with a crazy glare in my eye I'm sure) and told her that there was no force in the world that would make me just stand there and not continue searching. I took off. I was running up and down aisles. The target lady was running after me. People were staring. I saw employees at every turn talking into their walkie talkies yet no one had found him.

 

A security guard caught up to me, and said that when he had heard from each department and my ds had not been found, he would call the police. I almost vomited.

 

At that moment I heard a woman say,"Your mommy and a lot of people are looking for you." I bolted over. She had found him hidden in a rack of jeans. He had crawled up and covered himself with jeans. She said she happened to notice a pair of jeans move as she walked by.

 

He had a huge smile on his face and he said, "Me hiding, mommy."

 

I have never wanted to hug and shake my child at the same time. I was happy and angry all in one. I wanted to kiss him; I wanted to spank him.

 

Ten minutes had gone by since I alerted the employee. Ten minutes of sheer panic.

 

I have decided that he will be forced to sit strapped in the shopping cart until he is 16. I don't care how much he protests.

 

The same thing happened to me in a crowded mall when ER was about that age. Panic doesn't even begin to describe what I felt when I couldn't find him. And suddenly, there he was, in the middle of one of those big circular racks of clothes, looking up at me and smiling because he thought I was playing hide-and-seek with him. :001_huh:

 

I'm so glad both our stories had happy endings! :grouphug:

[amydavis]

:grouphug:

I've had similar experiences with at least 3 of my children. The oldest had gone missing from my parents. He was probably close to 10, but not really verbal (autism). So scary. I was running up and down the road yelling his name and shouting, "I've got bacon!!!" :lol: I must have seemed crazy to any neighbors...but hey, it's one of ds's favorite foods, and I was hoping it would pull him out of any hiding spot if he was in earshot. My husband always says if we could do a movie of our lives, he would have it open with that scene....the frantic woman, waving bacon, crying and screaming down the street...(Turns out ds was down the street somewhere...never really figured out where since he just kind of turned up walking back up the hill.)

 

The other super scary one was our youngest dd7 (she was 5 at the time). We were actually at a large cookout/square dance that is an annual event hosted by a family from our co-op. The amount of land they own is huge. It was dark and all of the children had been playing nearby. At some point I noticed that I hadn't seen dd run by recently. (Adults and teens were gathered closer to the barn where the dancing was occurring.) I played out so many scenarios, ranging from injuries, animals, and even the dreaded thoughts about "what do I know about all of the attendees here?" I've seen one too many episodes of Criminal Minds...and kept replaying the thought that she could have been lured away...it was awful. As it turns out, she was fine. She had moved deeper into a wooded area with other children. It's safe to say that she was kept closer for the rest of the night!

 

So sorry you had to go through this! It's awful.

[funschooler5]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

When DS was 10, he was missing for 45 minutes. He'd left our house because he heard the ice cream truck. Unfortunately he couldn't find it, went too far out of the neighborhood and got lost. We live in a small town, and my in-laws and DH's best friend both live a few blocks away, so they were out looking for him too. I went on foot, DH took the car, and both DDs stayed home in case he came back. I was frantic, especially when I found the ice cream man, who knew DS but hadn't seen him that day. I was in a complete panic. DH was the one that found him, about 8 blocks away. He'd crossed a fairly busy street and was walking back and forth along it, unsure of what to do. I've never been more relieved.

 

The nice thing was, when I had talked to the ice cream man, I ran into some kids I didn't even know who asked "Are you looking for _______?" Turns out that word had spread around the neighborhood that he was missing, and several of the neighborhood kids were looking for him. That really warmed my heart. :001_wub:

[chepyl]

When DS was almost 2, I left DH asleep and went to take a shower. DS was also asleep. While still in the shower DH came in the bathroom with DS. A woman had just rung the door bell because she had found him in the street! He undid a latch and two locks to get out of the house!

 

We never knew he was missing, but the panic of what could have happened.....plus waoting for DHS to show up at our door - no one ever came....but we thought for sure someone would be followong up on that one.

[HappyLady]

Ugh, I know this feeling! My eyes filled up with tears just reading this because I couldn't find my DD for about 5 minutes not too long ago. It was the worst 5 minutes of my life! She never, ever leaves my side so when she was gone I was sure she was taken. I was trying to remember exactly what she was wearing and anything I could tell anyone that would help find her. Thankfully she was fine and had just gone up ahead of where she THOUGHT I was going, but boy was I ever so happy and mad at the same time!!