Children are constantly curious and have the urge to explore. Children can also wander off and get lost from time to time.
Almost everyone has experienced the horror of losing sight of a child, although on this family outing, things took a terrifying turn.
In June last year a UK woman recalled her actions when her 4-year-old nephew Jake went missing and published them on a now viral blog post.
Vicky Hamilton-Ross recounted the events of the day when her sister Lucinda, her nephew Jake and herself attended a beach event in Bournemouth, England.
Vicky’s sister Lucinda turned away from her 4-year-old son to pick something up and in less than minutes, Jake had vanished.
Army cadets were chaperoning the event and quickly advised Vicky and Lucinda to start yelling descriptions of the boy, what he looked like and what he was wearing.
“‘We are looking for a boy. He is four years old, blond and in a red t-shirt. Have you seen him?’ … they repeated this loudly and consistently as they covered areas nearby,” Hamilton-Ross wrote on the blog.
After 15 minutes of searching, Jake was found on the beach.
Hamilton-Ross explained that by loudly yelling a description, any perpetrator would have been scared off or identified.
“It meant the guy couldn’t leave the beach without being spotted, so he just left Jake and walked away,” she explained.
It was that advice that saved his life. Once safely reunited with his mother and aunty he told them, “There was a bald man in a white t-shirt, he said he would take me to see a real rocket ship.”
Hamilton-Ross further praises the advice she was given.
“I would urge every parent to do this immediately, even if you suspect they are just around the corner. What’s the worst that could happen, you are slightly embarrassed because they hadn’t gone anywhere? It’s well worth that risk.”