Vent - Incident in supermarket car park!

Zoelikesjam

I had the same last week, we went to Devon for a holiday and were happily sat on a PACKED beach. We ha our 'pitch' our towels and windbreaker etc. Two 'pitches' behind us was a christian missionary who were singing and reading bible stories to the children. Our oldest two, 4 and 6 were having a great time coming back and forth whilst dad watched on intermintantly.
We broke for lunch, then they started playing and singing again.
Next thing we know our 4year old come over and says
'jaimees gone'
Cue instant panick and me thinking all sorts. She was litteraly gone.
40minutes later and 20 people looking for her to no avail.
DH went down to the sea(was miles away as going out and we thought she might have gone to paddle) and he see's lifeguards.
Aproaches LG's thinking they could go up and down the HUGE beach in their truck and use their binoculars to find her.
Thankfully they radio'd though to their base that a little girl was lost. Base come back with we have a little one here, discription please.
It was her.
She;d stood up faced the wrong way and couldn;t see us. Thankfully she found a lady and said ;help i'm lost; the lady took her to the nearest place she could think, which was the other side of the beach(miles away if anyone's ever visited woolacombe beach) and we just didnt think to ask there.....
the life guard base which had police help.
I will be forever grateful to this women whome i never met. I think if anyone finds a lost child the first port of call is a customer service area, police station....anywhere to help. Yes mum/dad might not think of this as first port of call(like we didnt) however child is safe until mum/dad does. And they will eventually.

OP you are a STAR!

totallyrandom

Thing is, the current situation makes people of good concience worried about what to do!

If I saw a child in trouble I would be terrified of doing anything to help in case I was accosted by the absent parent who came on the scene later and accused of who knows what!

misfire

Janine - You did TOTALLY the right thing (as did others who have posted similar stories). If it had been my son in danger and someone stepped in to help I would be ETERNALLY grateful. I lost my baby last year to neonatal death and I would not wish the pain of seeing your child desperately ill in hospital and dying on my worse enemy- this woman is just so lucky you were there.

Coats are cheap and can be repaired or replaced - Kids can't.

I would be upset by the mums reaction (upset and furious) but don't think about her just think about the fact you did an amazing thing and saved the child from a serious accident or worse.

pulliptears

my DD used to see it as a game when she was little. I had her on a wrist link in the end but she would still manage to slip it. Her favourite thing to do was to hide in the middle of clothing racks.... I recall once we went to Tenby with the inlaws and DD, then probably 2 was going into town with MIL. I gave MIL the wrist link and told her DD needed to be on it at all times. Of course MIL always knows best and removed it. They were happily shopping in a shoe store when they realised she had gone. After a brief look around the shop MIL ran one way up the high street and SIL ran the other. On looking back MIL noticed a crowd outside the shoe shop so went back. There in the window display was DD, wearing odd wellies that were 10 sizes too big and with an umbrella up.

Lesson learned for MIL.