One mother's frightening ordeal revealed a potentially life-saving tip.
Every mother's worst nightmare
A woman was shopping with her two year old son at a Kmart in the New South Wales Hunter Region of Australia when she realized she was living every mother's worst nightmare: She had lost track of her boy, he was nowhere in sight.
Panic quickly set in as she and her friend searched for the toddler.
"One friend ran to the entry immediately and alerted the staff member to not let a boy of his description leave the store"
- Mother of missing toddler
Recounting her story online, the mother says how she "silently" and "frantically" looked for her boy, periodically calling out his name.
No response.
Life-saving advice
Suddenly, the mother remembered a Tik Tok post by parenting blogger Jess Martini to help parents locate a child who's gone missing in a public place.
Martini tells parents to “screw the stares” and to start to "look loudly," meaning calling out their description to alert other shoppers.
That's exactly what the mother did.
"I’m missing a little boy, he’s wearing a yellow shirt and has brown hair. He’s two years old and his name is Nathan"
- Mother of missing toddler
The shop-goers immediately began helping her.
“I had every adult around me on alert. They all threw aside what they were looking at and started searching too,” she wrote.
Lost and found
Suddenly, she heard a man's voice saying "he's here." After giving him "a thousand thank yous," mother and son were reunited.
After the "scariest" 10 minutes of her life, the mother can't imagine what could have happened had she stayed silent.
"If I hadn't have been calling out, that man would have had no clue that I was looking for Nathan. Nate would have walked past him and he wouldn't have blinked," she posted.
Speak up, speak loud
The mother's close call is a reminder to parents that losing a child is no time to worry about making a scene. Every second matters, and every person you can recruit increases the chances of hugging your child again.
"You may feel like you look stupid being loud, and maybe you do, but it is so much better to look stupid than to be sorry"
- Parenting blogger Jess Martini
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