Remind me not to read the news. Ever.
The weekend was filled with upsetting reports of toddlers wandering away from homes and mommies -- one ending in tragic circumstances. But at least these stories reminds me that I cannot put off the trip to Home Depot to buy those extra door locks any longer. My son has been able to unlock and open the door for some time now, but you know, we moms get complacent sometimes. These stories helped to put my guard back up -- hope they will do the same for you, too.
- A 3-year-old Tanzanian girl, living with refugee parents in Des Moines, Iowa, wandered away from her babysitter's house Friday wearing one shoe and no coat. The girl's parents, who work in a meat packing plant, had left her at the sitter's while they went to work. She was found unharmed after a brief search; no charges will be filed against the parents.
- A 2-year-old child in San Bernadino, California, crawled out of his crib, opened the house door and snuck out Saturday morning. He walked a mile down a busy road before wandering into the path of an oncoming car and was killed. The mom was home at the time, but police are still tyring to figure out how he managed to sneak out.
- At Hickory-Dickory Dock amusement center in Hickory, North Carolina, on Friday, a mom was talking to a friend when her 13-month-old son walked away from her. He walked out of the building through the automatic doors. After a frantic search, a K-9 patrol found the boy outside about 20 minutes later. He was fine.
Has your toddler ever wandered out of the house or away from you at the store? Tell us what happened and what steps you take to prevent it from happening again.
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Comments 26
OH my gosh! I hate to hear stories like this but you are right, it does make you think. Once my daughter could reach the door knob we put those locks at the top of our doors from Home Depot. She is not even able to open the doors yet but I have already got myself into the habit of locking them when we come in.
my stepson wandered off out of his mother's home 3 times before DSS stepped in and finally took him away...Thankfully we now have sole custody of him, and we have locks on all the doors at the top, and extra locks on the windows....we will also be getting a door alarm for his room as he tends to wander at night...He was 2&1/2 when DSS picked him up and he is 5 now
My son likes to open the door ususalyy he comes a gives me a kiss bye bye first. We just lock the door when we're home. He can't undo the locks. I lock my house more when I am home, then when I am not home.
When DS was 14 months old, he walked across the street and two houses down when our family was in the yard gardening. Luckily we live on a quiet street but that was when I realized I couldn't take my eyes off of him for not even one second! It literally took him seconds to get away. I was mortified!
My son woke up before we did one morning and very quietly got up and went and opened the door. He thought he was being helpful by letting the doggies out for mommy. When I got up and saw him standing in front of the open door, I just about died!! But, the 2yrold? Unless the mom was asleep how'd she not know he had gotten out?!
my son is autistic, and he has wandered away from home. At the time we lived on a golf course where there is a large lake, a neighbor who is in law enforcement noticed our front was open and called the local PD, it was the middle of the night, when they arrived at our house, my son was already home and they woke us up and explained what had happened. We put locks and alarms on every door and window in the house, we went as far as putting one of those video things in his room so we could see him while he sleeps, we also had an alarm(one lets lets off a horrible sound) put on his bedroom door so that i would hear him, even if he only got up to use the restroom. We also had him registered with the police department, fingerprints, pictures, dna(hair) and had a meeting with them as well.
when my son had just barely turned three he decided he was going to big lots to buy a truck and denny's for breakfast, both across the street. he didn't wake me up, had a dollar in his pocket, one shoe and his daddy's paintball mask on. he made it outside and across the street when i woke up and called 911. a woman found him outside one of the stores in that strip mall and took him inside, he just barely got there when the police came. in total he couldn't have been gone more than fifteen/twenty minutes but it was scary as hell.
I almost got run over when I was little. My mom was at a dog obedience training thing and I was pretty little, walking age anyway. I guess somehow I had gotten away and when they found me, I was walking across a busy highway with a car coming at me at probably about 70 miles per hour. They kept trying to call me but I wasn't hearing them and finally my mom YELLED my name and I stopped, JUST IN TIME. Several people had actually turned their heads because they didn't want to see what happened. The car WHIZZED by, didn't even slow down, I had JUST been missed. Class ended at that point as everyone was just a bit shaken up.
And that was NOT the only time I had wandered away from her. I'm surprised I even survived my childhood considering the number of times I wandered away from her and got lost and almost harmed/killed by it. So, knowing this, I tend to keep a pretty close eye on my daughter though she has tried to sneak out of a here a few times.
When my DD was two, we lived in a trailer in a wooded area. She had woken me up twice before, in the bathroom apparently sleepwalking!! One night I woke up to hear her crying... from outside! She had sleptwalked out the front door into the woods and woken up scared and cold! After that I always lock the doors, day or night. I have those doorknob covers that make it hard for a child to open a door.
My 2 y/o DD has woke up and locked herself in the bathroom. She's unlocked the doors and walked outside. One day while she was napping I walked outside my front door and was talking to a neighbor she got out of her bed unlocked the back door and walked around front and said Hi Mommy! Since then I've bought locks that I attached to the top of the door so she can't reach them!