Don’t get lost this Summer

A survey* of 656 Irish parents by Childline has shown that nearly one in five children accidentally get separated from their parents on holidays at home and abroad.

• Almost 10% of Irish parents reported they had been separated from their child or children under 10 years of age abroad.
• 50% of parents worried about not knowing enough about the area to find their child, while 17% said not having a command of the language was a problem in locating their missing child.
• Children between the ages of 4 and 6 were the most likely to go missing, with the chance of boys disappearing four times more likely than girls.
• The survey also found that husbands and male partners were by far the most likely to be separated from their children

This reminded me of an episode a year or two ago when a customer came back to me having lost one of their children at the Ploughing Championships. Turns out that she had to work and her husband had planned on taking their 2 young children with him for a fun day out at the Ploughing, so she completed their insert cards with their emergency contact details, inserted them into their wristbands and kissed them goodbye. Few hours later she received a call in work from a lady at the children’s lost tent at the event saying that they had her little boy and what a great idea the wristband was as they could contact her immediately to reunite them quickly. This was news to her as Daddy hadn't called her himself to let her know and was still probably panicking, searching for their little boy. Thankfully she was able to call him herself and let him know where to pick up their son safely, all thanks to her putting on their iDME wristbands that morning.   Don’t allow yourself to feel lost if one of your children become separated from you while out and about this Summer

• Complete the insert cards and put their wristbands on them before leaving the house
• Tell them that if they get lost or scared to show their wristband to another Mommy (we are easily recognisable and will know how to calm a child)
• Agree to a safe spot when entering a park or shopping centre to meet up if separated
• Take a photo on your phone before you leave the house so you have a current pic of what they are wearing

*Survey carried out by Empathy Research