Toddler Disappearance
by Amanda on Jul.18, 2012, under Uncategorized
This morning I woke up and began freaking the hell out. Lets backtrack a bit here. I take Randy to work every morning and Gracie and I get home around 8:15 and go back to bed. We live in a mobile home park. So she goes to bed around 8:30 and I join her at 9am. Usually she wakes up before me and it’s fine because she doesn’t get into anything or do anything that would concern me.
Today was a different story. I woke up and the front door was open and the screen was shut. This meant she opened the door and went outside. She can’t open the screen door from the outside. I run outside barefoot in my pajamas and start calling her name frantically. I see no sign of her anywhere. We have a large pond right next to our trailer and if you walk through the trees in the other direction you come to a very large creek.
I called my mother-in-law and tell her Gracie opened the door and I can’t find her so she heads over with my FIL and in the meantime I drive to the office to ask the manager if she had seen her because there are only 16 trailers in the park. They know who Gracie is and she told me she saw her playing on our steps about 15 minutes ago and she thought it was odd because she was alone. She goes to start looking for her and I drive back and my in-laws arrive and we all start looking. I went through the paths in the woods calling her name and the manager actually found her walking on the other side of the park. She had gone through the paths in the woods and was walking along the main highway.
That was the scariest parenting experience I’ve ever had in my life. My FIL immediately went to the store to look for a child safety lock and didn’t find anything so he got a chain lock to place up high where she can’t reach it since she’s mastered the other lock. He also looked for an alarm but wasn’t able to find one.
Needless to say, I won’t be forgetting to lock that chain when we return home everyday.
10 Comments for this entry
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I'm Amanda or Manda. I'm a freelance writer for various clients on the web and a criminal justice major at Genesee Community College. I'm married to Randy as of 8-22-09 and mother to Gracie as of 9-28-09 and Trent 9-12-12.
July 18th, 2012 on 4:24 pm
Oh my gosh! That must have been so scary. I’m glad you guys found her and she’s okay. Get that chain lock installed ASAP!
July 18th, 2012 on 4:28 pm
Oh it definitely is installed. My FIL did it before he left. Some parenting lessons sure are scary I tell you.
July 18th, 2012 on 4:30 pm
Oh my goodness, I cannot imagine waking up to that! I am SO GLAD she is okay, so so glad.
July 18th, 2012 on 5:54 pm
Matthew did that once but luckily didn’t leave the front yard. Since then we make sure to always have a chain lock and keep it on wheb we’re home. I’m so glad that Gracie is okay and that you got the chain put on!
July 20th, 2012 on 9:34 am
We definitely won’t be forgetting to use the chain lock after that scare.
July 18th, 2012 on 5:56 pm
omg so glad she is safe O_O *puts chain lock on shopping list for later*
July 18th, 2012 on 8:33 pm
I am so glad she is home safe now! Kids (just like cats) can figure out ways to get themselves in and out of things better then us adults.
July 19th, 2012 on 3:33 pm
Oh holy shit, Amanda. This was terrifying just to read.
You read about this happening SO often – in most cases the ending is happy, in terms of the kids being found and returned to their parents. But in so many instances they’re near highways, ponds, busy intersections, etc. Ugh.
It’s for this very reason that up until last year, we had dead bolts on both our front and back door that required a key to unlock from both the outside AND the inside (we kept spare keys stashed close by, as well as on our own key chains, so in the event of a fire one was always close at hand; and when we were home and awake we left the top bolts unlocked). At our two previous rental homes, we had the chain locks installed, very high up on the door so that even if Alyssa (then a toddler) managed to stand on a chair, she still couldn’t have reached.
I’m so glad Gracie was found, and that nothing happened. Please remember to use the chain once it’s installed! Also, and I speak from experience: try setting out stuff to draw her in if she should wake before you, such as safe (non-choking) snacks, crayons and coloring books, heck, even the TV remote? LOL. Whatever it takes to keep her from being tempted to take off without you!
Another idea: check at Babies ‘r Us, Toys ‘r Us, or even Home Depot for motion-activated sensors that you can hang around the front door knob. When the door knob is turned, the sensor is jiggled, which causes it to emit a piercing alarm. It has an on/off switch, so you can just turn it on when you need to use it. I remember my mom using these when my brothers were toddlers.
July 20th, 2012 on 9:35 am
Our chain lock is also very high up and my FIL ensured that even on a chair she can’t reach it. We also ordered an alarm on Amazon since we couldn’t find one locally. It will be here today and Randy is going to install it tonight so if the door is opened while the alarm is active I’ll definitely hear it go off. We’re not taking any chances after that.
August 5th, 2012 on 10:29 pm
I think almost every parent has an experience like this. I know my brothers and myself did it to my parents. I’m just glad she was found and everyone is okay.