Missing kids..

Case 1
Last week my dear hubby told me that a friend almost lost his youngest daughter in a play area in one of the shopping mall here. Almost lost, or in exact word, almost got kidnapped by someone who decided to just come and grab her away.. scary huh? Luckily at that moment the mother was nearby, and come to the rescue as soon as she hear the cry from the little girl. A middle age woman was carrying her and when asked what she was doing, the woman confidently answered that the girl's her daughter and she's always like that i.e. crying with no reason! When the mother told her that that girl is her daughter, the woman just drop her and run away!  

Case 2
last July my brother in law with his whole family come all the way from Canada to visit us. While talking about the kids, his wife give me one very important tip about how to avoid panic case of losing kids. Seemed she had quite an experience in handling the matter and for me, at that time, listened, but didn't come across my mind to directly practice it, i.e. informing my kids what they should do if they got separated from us anytime during outing. In my mind I thought it'll never happen. I'm always careful with the kids, and the elder ones will always look after the smaller ones.. Wrong!! It happened! and it happened just few days after that! And the worse thing, it happened in the crowded area in Genting Highland!! Imagine, 4 adults, 6 teenagers, 3 kids, and 1 missing kid! This boy went missing!!

Imagine how I become! Like a crazy woman running around screaming calling his name and stopping here and there asking if anybody saw him! It was just a matter of few minutes, I brought my little princess to the loo and while still there, my niece came and asked if Nibras's with me, and right at that moment I felt my heart fall into my stomach! I tried to stay calm, but impossible to do so. We told the teens to hold the small ones while we run around looking for Nib.. One cleaner told me that he saw one boy crying near KFC but he's no more there. I almost faint when suddenly he appeared with my BIL wife. I really want to scold him for moving on his own, but all I did was hugging him and told him that never leave our side again. He's just a 5 years old kid, of course he'll be wondering around at any opportunity he got..., I want to scold the adult...., aahh....sigh...... Nevermind, it's my fault anyway! Thanks Allah we found him and from that day, I don't care if people sees me as a fierce mother, better to scold your kids a bit rather than losing them right? The previous Sultan of Johor used to say that better to let your kids to cry now rather than you cry later.. a wise word from him indeed.

So what was the tips?
Tell your kid that whenever he/she got separated from the parents, sit and wait at the same spot. Do not move. Do not follow anyone. Do not try to find your way back (this is the case of Nibras. He try to find his way back!!). Stay and we will come to get him/her back. Parents will never leave their kids and will always search at places where they'd been with the kids. Teach and reassure your kids about this and let them to repeat this until they understand that this is what they suppose to do if they got separated from us. This is really important, believe me, I got the experience already!!