Last summer, while on holidays in Denmark, I momentarily lost sight of my three-year-old in the middle of a busy amusement park.
Needless to say I panicked and aged 10 years on the spot, before finding him again a few minutes later (it felt like
hours) – discovering he had simply wandered off to look at at some pirate ship ride he wanted to go on, apparently.
However, after finding him again and being so relieved I just sat down and cried while also yelling at him for wandering off (and mentally scolding myself for having let go of his hand for even a second!), I got chatting to these two friendly mums, who, sensing my despair, had come over while I was in a panic looking for him, and who stayed until after he was found, safe and sound, all the time doing their best to help in any way they could. Because that's what mums do, isn't it?
Anyway, once my little boy was strapped safely into the stroller I actually had brought with me for the purpose of this
not happening, I got chatting a little more calmly to the two ladies, and having chatted about just how quickly this can happen (they were trying to make me feel better, obvs.), one of them shared a tip so genius I actually could not believe I hadn't heard of it before.
The trick? If you are going somewhere busy with your kids in tow, write your phone number on their arm, then cover it with liquid bandaid to keep it from rubbing off. If they get lost, someone can simply call you.
The liquid bandaid will keep the writing in place, even in water. And
if they get lost or wander off, a friendly grownup can just call you and inform you of your child's whereabouts.
