When I take my son somewhere like the zoo or an amusement park I take a sharpie and write my cell phone number on his arm. He is told that if we get lost to find an adult (ie employee) and show them the number and tell them to call your mommy. He is old enough to know my name and his own of course.
Does anyone else do this? Do you know of anywhere to purchase a bracelet or something that he could wear instead?
I have to say that 30 heads is better than one and I loved hearing about all the ways you mommies keep your kiddos safe!!! I never even thought about telling my son to find another mommy, but I definitely will next time!!! I have always worried that he would not be able to find an employee. I also loved the idea of telling them a meeting place, ie. the rock by the penguins. Thanks for all the posts I have lots of good ideas for more ways to keep him safe when we are out in a busy situation! Thanks SO much!
I have never written on my kids but I have them carry cards with my info. My son has a medical condition and I order bracelets from them. You can have anything put on the bracelet and they are very inexpensive and in fun kid designs. N-StyleID.com is the site. Not to plug them but I got great service from them, fast shipping and budget friendly.
There are temporary safety tattoos that have that information printed on them or write on temporary tats:
http://www.safetytat.com/
No, I've not done that...what a good idea.
We had the bracelets when my kids were younger...my GF has the one that look like a Vietnam Vet bracelet that velcro's on their arm....I can find out where she got them...I guess we could google kids arm bracelet identifier and see what comes up...
That's what I always used to to do, for 7 or 8 years now (since my son was 1.5 / 2)... sharpie from elbow to wrist. For sporting events I add our section, aisle, seat numbers :) That was on the advice of a stadium worker who saw me writing on my son's arm. Killer advice. Both have come in quite useful.
I was ALWAYS tempted to add "My parents pay ransom demands" on his back under his shirt, but never did.
I made my daughter a bead bracelet that has my cell number on it.
If you write on your child (not a bad idea as a temporary solution), don't use Sharpies, which contain toxic ingredients. Ball-point pens work just as well, and wash off more easily. I'm always making ball-point notes on my "wrist list."
Here you go! These are the ones we used to sell at school when I was with the PTA, you can have your name and phone number engraved, or up to a total of 6 lines of info. They also come with designs on them, my kids used to love to pick out a new one each year : )
Great idea. We tell DS to 'ask a mommy to call us' if he gets lost. If there is no mommy, ask a grandma (that would be any older lady in his mind). I have read that most small children are unable to accurately distinguish the uniforms of true law enforcement officials from those of janitors, grocery clerks and other people likely to be male and young. Asking a woman with children for help seems the safest. He also knows to pick a person and approach them, not to wait for someone to approach him.
We make necklaces for our girls with the plastic lugage type tag and they decorate them with stickers. I used a plastic or clear packaging over the paper in case it were to get wet. They know go to a a mom with kids or a worker for help. My oldest knows her address, home phone and our names but not our cell #'s.
Use or get this:
It is called:
"Mommy I'm Here cl-103br Child Locator"
Amazon, has it.
This is where I got ours.
It is a Child Locator Device in a cute Teddy Bear device the child wears on them or on their shoes etc.
It is GOOD.
My Husband and daughter used it when they went on an international trip.
It works, well.
I highly recommend it.
Or this:
http://www.safetytat.com/
It is a child label 'tattoo" which the child wears.
I have this too.
It is GOOD.
I got it for my daughter's trip with my Husband.
I highly recommend both of these items and have used it.
They sell rubber bracelets, like Lance Armstrong's yellow Livesstrong ones, that you can personalize with your info.
http://rubberbracelets.com/
I make ICE bracelets for kids! They have fun colored beads on elastic cords and number beads for your cell number. That way they can just show the bracelet to an adult with a phone and ask them to call. I keep one in my glove compartment and one in my diaper bag and then just snap it on when we're in very crowded places.
My 3 year old has a metal bracelet that has her name and our cell numbers on the backside of it. She knows this and is to tell whoever finds her (should she ever get lost) to look in her bracelet. I bought it online somewhere for $10 and it's lasted for 2 years so far.
Child ID Bracelet - PURPLE - Velcro closure - Kids Ages 3-9 - up to 6" wrist
by Kid Link on Amazon.com
Amazon has a variety of other kids's ID bracelets as well. Great idea!
I haven't thought of this yet, I did hear that you should always take a pic with your cell phone when you leave every morning so that you have an accurate pic with the clothes they have on if they are lost.
I have a 21 month old, and so we have a monkey back pack with a special tail that wraps around mommy's wrist, but I am totally liking the other ideas for when she gets a little older. Thanks so much moms.
We got ours from kidsvitalids.com and I think they're really great. They cost $13 and it says vital id on the outside (so if someone was checking him, they'd know to look in his bracelet). On the inside is a little waterproof card for child's name, our contact info and names, on the other side allergies and doctor's name/number. You can go swimming with it, and it comes with an extra info paper. (You can also order extra info papers for 75 cents). I like them a lot! We don't use them all the time, but if we're going somewhere that I'm concerned we could get separated or lost, my son wears his happily. Also I did get some colored luggage tags (one attached to my eldest's backpack, one on my youngest's diaper bag) that has emergency id / contact info on it (I printed those cards off the Red Cross website for free). You slip the card in the tag case thing, and there it is, safe and sound. Those cards come in handy!!! YESTERDAY I was trying to wrangle kids and get them in the car, I put my wallet on the roof of my car and forgot it by the time I'd gotten my youngest in his carseat, screaming at the top of his lungs, because he wanted to chase the cat, not sit in his seat. I made it out of the neighborhood with the wallet on the roof, but when I got on the parkway, it blew off. A young man saw it happen and stopped to pick it up and called my husband's number (my first emergency number listed) and brought the wallet to my husband's office (he was heading that direction). Sheesh!
Search for safety tatoos and you'll find safetytat. These are non-toxic and highly water resistant.
I've seen "make your own temporary tattoo" printer paper somewhere on the craft blogs that moms have used for "If found.. please call" tattoos. Thought that was a great idea.
That's a great idea! My kids know our home number, but they don't have mine or my husbands cell numbers memorized. We're going on vacation later this summer - I think I will make them bracelets and also right in on them or stick a piece of paper in there shoes or something.
When my son was much younger, I printed out address labels with a picture of my face that said, "This is my mom, Jae. Please call her if I get lost: ###-###-####." I stuck them to the back of his shirt when we went some place like the zoo.
Thats a good idea. Maybe even for older kids when they are allowed to go off on their own, incase they get hurt or sick. Someone else can always call whoever is with them. Nice idea E..
I haven't done it but seems reasonable.
Hadn't really thought about it, but that is a great idea. I love this website and they have stuff like this.
http://www.inchbug.com/st-qswo-6bgv.html
Roadid.com
They have different ones available ~ ankle, wrist, shoe & necklace type ids.
My son is getting one, my husband has a necklace for when he runs and and I have a bracelet. They have different styles, colors and sizes.
This site is more geared towards atheles, but after we got my husbands and mine and saw how nice they were made we are ordering my son one this week.
You can put different amounts of information on them, based on what you want.
We used a sharpie too!
I'd also tell my kids to find a stroller and tell the mommy or daddy that s/he was lost. I figure other parents would be more likely to help then just any stranger and there are WAY MORE strollers around then employees. Plus, I'd like to believe that if you had a little kid come up to you and hang onto your stroller you'd start looking around for the parent of that child.
my husband has on occasion tucked a business card into the kids' back pockets in case they got seperated. By then our kids were old enough to tell others their name and could hand the card over to an adult which had cell phone #s and other contact info on it. If its a fairly plain card you could always write the names of other's in your party and #s for them as well.
If your really intent on a bracelet... i knew of a mom who bought one of the medical type ones and put contact info on that - (her kid is an "aspie"). I liked the idea, but since there wasn't a medical necessity for my kids I thought "any" kind would be viewed just a jewelry and not be looked at for contact info.
my husband would always take my kids to sea world when we lived in CA (we had passes) and he would also that. He would write his cell number on their arm with a sharpie. Really big too!
They sell medical grade tattoos that come printed with your phone number or any other pertinent information that you have printed on them (i.e. peanut allergy, or autistic) for this exact purpose.
We have used them, and I have to say, they do provide a small sense of comfort, just knowing that the information is there, if he would get lost in a crowd. And I'll take extras for all the kids in our group, so at least if one is lost, someone will call MY cell phone.
Also like some others said, I taught my son very early on that if he ever got separated from me, to find a mommy - and I'd make him tell me how he'd know if someone was a mommy. He'd say "it's a lady with kids." I've told him to find a mommy, and show them his 'tattoo' and have them call me. As a mother, I know without a doubt, that if a lost child came to me and asked me to call his mother, I would not let that child out of my sight until he was safely returned to his mom, and I'm sure that's true with 98% of mothers.
Women, mother's especially, are far less likely to perpetrate on children than any other population (I believe). And telling kids to find a security person, or a staff person is too difficult for small children... uniforms look different at different places, etc., so they don't always know what they are looking for, or they are hard to distinguish. Mommies are easy to find.
I also like the idea of the i.c.e. bracelets, except that they could come off easily at a place like an amusement park or something. Still a good idea though. Might make some. :)
I do what Karen Crisalli W does...whereever we go, I point out who the employees are and tell my kid to find one of them if he gets lost. And I always find the customer service booth to point it out to make sure he knows where it is and tell him to go there if he needs to. We always go to large events, festivals and shows so I also point out security guards and tell him to find them where they are supposed to be standing.
I tell him to never go to the bathroom when he is lost or leave the premises. Big no no for us.
I have no help or answer to offer -- but I had to tell you I think this is a GREAT idea! Wish I had thought of it years ago when my kids were little!
I think that is a good idea. My son runs off and, at the age of two and a half, was lost at the state fair of Texas for about 5 minutes. We started out with a plastic id bracelet on him, but he tore it off.
So, sharpie sounds good - also like the other posters ideas about a metal id bracelet.
I do that too. You can also buy metal ID bracelets. I grew up in one.
I also always set up a meeting place. For large places, this moves as we move. For example:
"If you lose me while we're in the penguin exhibit, go stand on this rock right here. Stay there. Don't look for me. I'll find you. Let's practice. Pretend you're lost. (child goes to rock) Good job! Have fun looking at penguins!"
Then I can relax. If if I turn around and find myself short a child, I do a loop looking for them and check the rock. Do a loop, then check the rock. It is extra helpful if the meeting spot is something they can climb on top of, so I can see them easily from a distance.
I prefer this to "find an employee" because it's faster. My kids could wander half the zoo before they found an employee. I also teach them how to ask adults for help, of course.
Ages ago I ordered some little tags that went in the shoes (thru the laces) that you wrote info on - they weren't exactly paper, kinda like our money tho! Wish I could remember what they called those things as they might be out there somewhere!!
