The panic that comes with losing your little one in public is better described than experienced. Sadly, toddlers are notorious for their wandering skills. These curious littlings only need a few seconds and a good opportunity to execute their perfect escape plans. It would be awesome if it wasn’t also nerve-wracking.
Source: Krista.piper/TikTok
The good news, though, is that a mom has shared a game-changing hack for quickly finding your wandering cutie in public. We’ll let you in on the truck below.
Krister Piper Gundry
Krister Piper Gundry is a Rushville-based wedding photographer and an Ohio mom of 2 who has had her fair share of her kid’s disappearing act. In a TikTok video that she posted on her account last year, she narrated how she lost sight of her 3-year-old at a family outing.
Source: Krista.piper/TikTok
Fortunately, the moment didn’t last too long as she remembered a viral hack she had once come across for parents who lost their kids in public.
Her Story
Piper said she was supervising her kids in a play area at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus when one went missing. “This play place is huge. It runs the entire length of this giant science museum, and the kids love it. It has a lot of nooks and crannies,” she explained.
Source: reservationscom/X
“I was talking to another mom that we came there with because our two boys were playing ’cause they’re older, And all of a sudden I don’t know where my three-year-old is.”
Piper Begins To Panic
Piper’s heart skipped many beats when she discovered that her 3-year-old daughter, Lily, was missing. She tried to scan the area for her toddler to no avail, so she panicked.
Source: Krista.piper/TikTok
“I started calling her name. Right after I started calling her name, a little light bulb went off in my head that I remembered a TikTok that I had seen probably over a year ago,’’ Piper revealed.
The Hack
“It was of a mom who had lost her kid in, I believe, a grocery store, and instead of yelling out the kid’s name, she yelled out the description of what her child was wearing, and she was able to find her kid way faster,” Piper continued.
Source: Krista.piper/TikTok
So, she decided to change her tactics and began describing Lily’s shirt instead of shouting her name.
Strangers To The Rescue
Her daughter was wearing a pink Minnie Mouse shirt. So, “I stopped calling out her name and I started yelling, ‘girl pink shirt, pink Minnie Mouse shirt.” When other mothers heard her yelling this description, they knew that she was looking for her child.
Source: Ann Bugaichuk/ Pexels
After a while, “A mom said, ‘Little girl pink shirt Minnie Mouse?’ and I was like ‘yes’ and that was her. So PSA if you ever lose your child or dog or anything, yell out their description, raise your voice,” Piper said.
A Minute That Seemed Like Forever
A minute quickly passes by when you’re having fun. However, when something as devastating as losing a child happens, 60 seconds can seem like forever. That’s precisely what Piper had to endure for the short duration that her precious little one was out of her sight.
Source: Uday Mittal/Pexels
According to Piper, Lily was missing for less than 2 minutes. However, it was as though the clock stopped ticking.
Little Crazy? No Problem
Piper said she was sure everyone thought she was a little craziness when she first started yelling Lily’s description. In her words, “I probably looked like a crazy person, but it got the job done.”
Source: Krista.piper/TikTok
So, this is your reminder that sometimes, it takes some level of “silliness” to get the results you desire and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Piper would never have been able to live with herself if she didn’t do everything she needed to find her daughter at that moment.
Bottom Line: Descriptions Over Names
“I found my kid really fast versus me just looking by myself or just coming up to groups of parents and [being] like, ‘Hey, have you seen a girl with a pink shirt? You know, three years old,’ because that’s probably what I normally would have done,” Piper said.
Source: Krista.piper/TikTok
For us, this makes a lot of sense. Strangers in public places have yet to learn who your kid is, so yelling names wouldn’t yield impressive results. But when you call out a description, anyone close to them can easily spot them.
Impressed Mothers Speak
Many mothers who could relate to Piper’s story were impressed by her hack. “To be honest, if I hear someone calling a kid’s name I don’t really think they are ‘lost.’ Yet someone who starts call[ing] descriptions, I [100%] would look,” someone wrote.
Source: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels
Another said, “Ooo, it’s so scary when our little ones get away from us! So glad you had that skill to fall back on!”
The Statistics
Losing a kid in a public place even for a few seconds is scary because it can quickly take a devastating turn from there. According to Child Find of America, about 2,300 children go missing every day in the country. The organization mentioned that getting lost is one of the reasons this happens.
Source: Pinterest
In fact, according to National Today, “Almost 90% of children missing either lose their way, run away, or misunderstood path directions.”
It’s Time to Spread The Word!
When it comes to parenting kids, we’re in this together. So, in the spirit of solidarity, why not share this trick with as many parents as you can reach today?
Source: Andrea Piacquadio/ Pexels
Spread the word as far as you can. You never can tell how many homes you can save by doing so. Think about it, what would have happened if Piper didn’t randomly come across the trick when she did?
