Yesterday evening, I was at Good Harbor Beach with my kids. We were sitting by the bridge over the creek.
We were packing up to leave, and I noticed a woman looking around slightly frantically, and talking to some people close by. When she got to us, she asked if I had seen a 4-year-old boy with blond curly hair, wearing a blue shirt. I said no, and asked what was going on. Apparently she was staying at a house on Brier Neck, went out the store, and left her son with her parents. When she got back 30 minutes later, the son was gone. They found his shoes at the place they typically leave them when they go to the beach. She had called the police, and said they were on their way.
She was very very upset, and I told her that we would help. I packed the kids into the stroller, and headed towards the other end of the beach. I was looking for her son, but so was she, so I made it my goal to enlist as many people as possible in the search, as quickly as possible. I found a group of 6 boys playing soccer, from about age 8 to about 15, and told them that they needed to help, and directed them in various different directions. By the time I hit the bathrooms/concession stand, there were several different groups of people looking for the boy.
At one point, somebody said that they had seen him earlier, and noticing that he was alone, sent him back towards Brier Neck.
About five minutes into my involvement, somebody from the home came out to tell the mother that the boy was safe at home.
So there was a happy ending, but of course this stayed with me all night, and all of today. So here is what I think:
1) If your child is missing on the beach, then you need to be as loud as you can be, and you need to enlist as many people as you can as quickly as you can. I can't say what was going through this mother's mind, but she seemed a little hesitant to ask for help. And several of the people that she talked to about her son just said, "haven't seen him," and that was that. But everybody I spoke to, and told, "you need to help her right now", immediately dropped what they were doing and helped. It's just human nature.
2) If you see a 4-year-old alone on the beach, and he gives you any clue that he is lost, then you need to stay with him until he finds his parents. Call the police, send out a search party, ask the boy where he came from, etc. But don't just send him back in the general direction of where you think he came from.
3) When you find your child after such an incident, resist the urge to berate them for wandering off. The last thing a frightened 4-year-old needs is to be yelled at. There is plenty of time later for lectures about safety.
We were packing up to leave, and I noticed a woman looking around slightly frantically, and talking to some people close by. When she got to us, she asked if I had seen a 4-year-old boy with blond curly hair, wearing a blue shirt. I said no, and asked what was going on. Apparently she was staying at a house on Brier Neck, went out the store, and left her son with her parents. When she got back 30 minutes later, the son was gone. They found his shoes at the place they typically leave them when they go to the beach. She had called the police, and said they were on their way.
She was very very upset, and I told her that we would help. I packed the kids into the stroller, and headed towards the other end of the beach. I was looking for her son, but so was she, so I made it my goal to enlist as many people as possible in the search, as quickly as possible. I found a group of 6 boys playing soccer, from about age 8 to about 15, and told them that they needed to help, and directed them in various different directions. By the time I hit the bathrooms/concession stand, there were several different groups of people looking for the boy.
At one point, somebody said that they had seen him earlier, and noticing that he was alone, sent him back towards Brier Neck.
About five minutes into my involvement, somebody from the home came out to tell the mother that the boy was safe at home.
So there was a happy ending, but of course this stayed with me all night, and all of today. So here is what I think:
1) If your child is missing on the beach, then you need to be as loud as you can be, and you need to enlist as many people as you can as quickly as you can. I can't say what was going through this mother's mind, but she seemed a little hesitant to ask for help. And several of the people that she talked to about her son just said, "haven't seen him," and that was that. But everybody I spoke to, and told, "you need to help her right now", immediately dropped what they were doing and helped. It's just human nature.
2) If you see a 4-year-old alone on the beach, and he gives you any clue that he is lost, then you need to stay with him until he finds his parents. Call the police, send out a search party, ask the boy where he came from, etc. But don't just send him back in the general direction of where you think he came from.
3) When you find your child after such an incident, resist the urge to berate them for wandering off. The last thing a frightened 4-year-old needs is to be yelled at. There is plenty of time later for lectures about safety.
