Do you experience anxiety when you take your children to a public place to play? I am the same way too. I experienced not being able to find my son for a brief moment in my life. This blog post is all about strategic ways on how to keep your kid safe in a crowded place.
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I had a scary moment in my life while visiting our local Zoo. My son was playing on the playground and for about 2 minutes I could not find him. It was the longest two minutes of my life. At the end of the post, I will tell you how I found him. But first I will share ways to help you.
One of the first steps you can take as a mom is to be prepared when taking your kids to a crowded place. Using these strategies can help calm your anxiety, protect your family and keep your kid safe in a crowded place. It all starts with teaching your kids what to do in case of an emergency.
1. What to do if you get separated?
Should you ever get separated from your kids you need to come up with a plan as a family every time you go out. Talk to your kids about the safe zones. Safe zones can be information desks, a central meeting point and or what person to look for. For example another mom with kids.
It is also important for your kids to understand that they should never leave with a stranger. You also need to explain how strangers may try to give them a gift. Help your child understand that they should never take a gift from a stranger without a mommy or daddy.
Play out these scenarios with your kids and ask them questions. You want to ask questions like what happens if you can’t find mommy. See how they answer. Use a coloring book to tell them a story about safety and to help them visualize what it means.
Teach your kids action words to alert others like:
NO! I don’t know you
Stay back! Where is my mommy and daddy?
Help! I don’t know this person.
2. Add some color to your kid’s wardrobe
Neon colors not your favorite in the crayon box? You need though to add them to your kid’s closet. One of the best things you can do is dress your kids in bright colors or in outfits that stand out in crowds. This way when you need to spot them you can.
Often times you will see schools or groups with same colored shirts. You can do something similar if you so choose too. I try my hardest to dress my kids in very bright colors depending on the place we are going too.
Finding your kid in a crowded place is hard enough, finding a drowning kid is a whole other ballgame. Which is why I dress my two youngest in bright orange or pink for every swimsuit. I search high and low for those colors especially because we swim year-round.
Seeing a bright-colored swimsuit in water will be easier to find. Trying to find my kids in a sea of other kids with gallons or water can be difficult if they all blend in. Also if your kid happens to fall in or begin to drown they will more likely be able to be spotted by a guard.
3. Tag your kids but don’t label them
Personalized gear can be so adorable such as book bags or cups. But giving away your child’s name on free advertisement is actually what you are doing. Instead, avoid all names on anything your child has or wears.
Replace your child’s name with your phone number and email address. Some neat ideas on how to tag your child can be emergency bracelets or tattoos.
4. Help them memorize your contact information
At about 3 years old my son was showing signs of understanding safety. It was around this age that I began to teach him his address, town, and state.
It was a dual effort between my husband and I. Repeatedly we would incorporate this in normal conversations. Using questions; like where you do live? What is mommy and daddy’s name?
With my
5. Consider purchasing a GPS for your little ones
There are many viable options now on the market For a decent GPS tracker. I prefer options that are not easily removed.
Some things you need to think about when purchasing a GPS tracker are:
- Price
- Locator range
- Calling options
- Being Waterproof
- If it requires a cellular plan
6. Keep a safe distance
Older children love their independence. Keeping your kids safe in a crowded place can pose a threat when they don’t want to hold mom and dad’s hand. You can teach them the importance of holding your hand or I like to use the stroller. I like to say you must hold on to the stroller and not let go.
Keeping a safe distance can help protect them from the unknown dangers. I like to keep them within arm’s length away or at most the distance between two adults standing side by side. In case of an emergency, you want to be able to grab your child within seconds when you are in a crowd.
There are some fun options you can use to help aid with keeping your kids safe in a crowd and within a short distance.
7. Illuminate them and keep track of your kids
When attending our annual fourth of July fireworks I take advantage of glow sticks. We sit in a field near our home where tons of families gather. Since there are many kids running around, to keep track of my kids I put glow sticks on them.
Recommended: Firework alternatives & Tips to help Kids if they fear loud noises
I will put several on their arms, necks, shoelaces, ankles and hair ties. You can get creative with them and connect them in fun shapes. You can get them cheap at Dollar Tree.
Another way I like to help keep my kid safe in a crowded place the use of a flashing pin or something that blinks. You can get so many themed pins on the web your creativity is limitless.
If you wanna take it up a notch you can get your kids these fun youth light up hoodies from electric styles, led shoelaces and hair bows. Or check out the video below from Glowy Zoey another company.
8. DIY ways to help keep your kid safe
Get crafty with your kids and use the craft time as a conversation starter about being safe in a crowd. You can make a bracelet with beads that display your phone number.
Try some fun duck tape and create a bracelet write your contact information on it. Be sure to use a permanent marker.
It a silicone bracelet to write down your emergency contact information. It’s waterproof and be sure to use a permanent marker or something that can not wash away.
Often times kids want to play with things. Having a wagon along can help keep them contained and at the same time entertained. Throw a few toys in with them and boom instant mobile play area. If they get tired be sure to have a bag handy to store your things and the kids are lay in the wagon and rest.
9. Use your best judgment and take a picture
According to the
I am a collector of pictures and surprised Google hasn’t banned me from my 11,000+ pictures. I love collecting memories and not things. When you are out with your kid’s snap tons of pictures or at least one good one that shows their full profile. This will aid in finding them should they get lost.
10. Free Child safety kits
For each of my kids I have and use free child safety kits and ID cards. My local police program offers this during family-friendly events. They will take a picture of your child and put basic ID information of them that gets saved in their database.
I then also have the free fingerprint safety kit that I do at home. These kits help you collect important information about your child. In case of a missing child situation you will be ready.
Here is a list of places you can get these free kits:
Ask around in your area. There are some school picture photographers that offer safety ID cards. Your local park district might host family events or even your local police/fire station.
11. Consider getting your child a state ID
This is something I have also done for my little’s. Having these ID’s and information databases can help reduce the time it takes to find your child. You can assist the authorities by sharing information in
So you might be wondering what happened when I couldn’t find my son for those 2 mins in the zoo. My mom friend and I found him inside a covered play area connected to a bridge. He was crying because the older kids were pushing and he was hiding by the walls of the plastic cover. Not only was I freaking out cause I couldn’t find him but then I was so hurt that he experienced being pushed like that.
Take these strategic steps to help keep your kid safe in a crowded place. Help prepare them for these situations should they arrive.
Have your ever experienced your kids leaving your site and the panic that sets in? What ways do you help keep your child safe in crowds?
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