How to Keep and Teach Your Children to be Safe in Big Crowds
I will start by sharing a few of my tips about wrangling my little ones in big crowds but what I am hoping for out of this post is a lot of comments and tips from all of you readers. Lets start a conversation about this because it is summer travel time and whether you plan on being a tourist or if your town becomes flooded with tourists in the summer, it is always good to have a plan when you are dealing with big crowds and little kids.
Here are a few of my husband and my crowd control guidelines:
- Teach your kids your name. You will always be Mom and Dad to your kiddos but make sure that your kids know your first and last name so if they get separated from you they can tell someone what your name is. Mass panic would happen in a theme park if the loud speakers announced, “Could MOM please report to customer service to pick up your lost child?”
- Teach your kids their first and last name. Same concept as number one.
- Before you join the crowd take a picture of your child. Make sure it is a full picture so you can see what they are wearing and there is a good clear picture of their face. In the chaos, shock and terror of losing a kid you may forget what your little one was wearing and not be able to effectively describe them. Having the picture will help authorities know what they are looking for.
- Point out the authorities and/or who to go to when you need help. Introduce your little one to an employee in the park’s distinctive polo shirt or uniform so they know who to go to for help.
- Dress your kids in distinctive clothing. They don’t need to be in reflective safety gear but it should be something that is easy to spot. At a recent trip to the zoo both my boys were wearing “explorer hats.”
- If possible have two adults. One to keep an eye on kids and one to be in charge of all the stuff- stroller, diaper bags, tickets, sippy cups etc. When there are clear responsibilities there is no miscommunication or lost moments of who is in charge of what.
- If you are traveling with more than one adult make sure you have a way to communicate if you are separated. Cell phones or walkie talkies are great for this.
- Ask for help right away. Don’t feel self conscious about your kid running off… ask for help. Employees are trained to help find missing kids and they can alert other employees to keep an eye out too.
- Bribe Bribe Bribe and remind them of the bribe through out the day. “If you are good and stay close to Mommy all day you can have an ice cream cone!”
Those are a few of our standby rules for big crowd safety. Please share some of your tips and tricks because when it comes to little ones and big crowds you can never be too safe.
12 Comments on “How to Keep and Teach Your Children to be Safe in Big Crowds”
These are all great tips. I’ve been doing the photo thing for awhile even when going to the mall. I use my cell phone camera to take a photo so the authorities have instant access to a RECENT photo of my son and in the clothes he was wearing at that time. Kiddo knows to line up at the back of the car for his photo.
Another thing I recommend (depending on the age of the child) is to teach them your cell phone number, not the home phone number. That is the phone you will most likely have with you in such a situation.
We also taught Kiddo to stay where he can always see us. That is not the same thing as us always seeing him. The perspective/point of view is different from child level. Since he is now 5 (and a half) it gives Kiddo a small amount of freedom to wander, which makes him feel like a big kid, yet still makes sure he is nearby for safety & our peace of mind.
@Elizabeth, I love the idea that they have to be able to see you. Good tip.
My boys are still a bit young to learn a cell number. However my oldest does know our address, house color and front door color (it is the only blue one in out area) so maybe he is able to learn a cell number….
Very good points! Thankyou.
I just wrote a related post about this a few weeks ago. While I always do the picture thing, I recently learned that you should do the same with their sneakers as well. When a child is taken, they usually have a change of clothes but not sneakers. So always remember which sneakers they have on because they will likely still have them on.
Also, instead of putting my son in a bright shirt I started putting him in a police dept. shirt. I figured if someone is going to take a kid they are likely not going to go for a kid that might be a local police dept. kid because taht would be wayyyy tooo much work.
I always make sure my son knows how to identify employees of where we are and where to go if he can’t find us. My blog post included some products that I wish we had when my son was little. There are so many inexpensive child locator tools now. If you are looking for it on my blog it is the “Children can be misplaced too” post.
@Denise, you should post a link to your post. I would be interested in reading it.
I never heard the shoes tip before. That is good info. Thanks!
@Meg,
Here is a link directly to that post…
http://wp.me/pRNC1-4Z
Does anyone teach their kids to shout, “STRANGER DANGER!” anymore? I remember that was something that teachers taught us to do when we were young.
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My mom used to dress my sister and I in matching outfits. She said it was so she could point to one of us and say that the lost one looks like “that one.”
I would recommend it with a caution. Do NOT use the ugly matching outfits Grandma gives to your kids for such an adventure. My sister and I have deep psychological scars because we were made to wear hideous matching outfits IN PUBLIC. Thank goodness we were out of town most of the time.
@Condo Blues,
that’s funny. it reminds me of my husband and his sister. their mom did the same thing when they were little. Mostly, it has just given me enough ammunition to tease him about it. lol
Hahaha!
Great tips! I have a very active 3 yr old who has a very hard time staying close by. Although I scorned the idea before, I am starting to think the “leash” idea isn’t so horrible as I thought when I was childless!
I am trying to teach him some safety stuff, but he just does not have the attention span to take it in it seems!
I also got some temporary tattoos as a freebie from Protectionone.com/kids that allow you to write your cell number on them after applied. They are still available to order.
And when I was little, my dad made us stainless steel tags we wore on a chain that had my parents info stamped into them. We were taught that if we got lost we were supposed to find a policeman or someone in charge and show them the tag. (I think I still have that thing around here somewhere even though I am in my 40’s now lol!)