i found this draft post i started a few years ago and never finished.
i thought why not finish and post.
i think it's important to document my proud and not so proud parent moments.
so as the title says, yes, i list my child at legoland.
my guess is that most parents,
will lose their child somewhere at sometime,
even if it's just for a few minutes at a store.
my parents told me they lost ALL of their children
at one time or another. (i'm one of 7}
they lost my sister leslie, at a parade when she was just a preschooler.
she left the curb where the family sat comfortably watching,
to follow a group of clowns that had passed us.
{not one of us noticed}.
one of my siblings was left at church
{my mom could have sworn she counted us all},
and I remember being lost in a department store.
christopher admitted one of his 4 brothers was left at mcdonalds.
he can't remember which one {he's one of 5 boys} *grin*
it happens, and the more kids one has, the easier to lose one.
i lost finn oliver a few years back at legoland.
i was there with my sister leslie and her 2 boys.
finn, at age 6 was the oldest and it was a bit nutty!
just before lunch we separated so my sister could
take her baby{ander} to the restroom and i took the 3 older boys.
it was lunchtime and i found a spot for us all to sit
so we could eat our packed lunches.
it was perfect as it overlooked the volvo driving school racetrack.
finn, who was 6, and tall enough finally to ride it begged to go.
{parents aren't allowed to ride...these are designed for little ones only}
the others were too short to ride, so i pointed finn to the start of the line
which was just 30 feet away, and told him to go and we would sit right
where we are and cheer him on as he drives past us.
he was thrilled!
i could see the line was short so expected to see him driving that
little car in 10 or 15 minutes. when i didn't see him, and i grew concerned.
i left scout and soren with a random mom and her kids for a few minuets,
while i ran over to the ride line looking for finn. he wasn't there.
i had that horrible sinking feeling that comes when a parent
feels their child is in danger. i can't begin to describe in words.
i asked the line attendant if a little blonde haired boy had come through her
line and she said no. my heart seemed to stop. i immediately let her i had lost
my child and she jumped on her radio to inform the park rangers.
they asked a few question: name, age, description, if he knew my cell number
{unfortunately he only knew christophers number}, and was instructed to just
stay right where i was.
though it felt like an eternity,
he came walking up to me with two park attendants about 10 minutes later.
when finn saw me he ran to me, burying his head into me.
i could see he was holding back tears.
he was trying so hard to be brave.
it was a scary thing for him.
even for a brave and independent kid like finn
who knew exactly what he had been instructed to do
if he were to ever get separated from us.
{we drilled that into his head since age 3}
finn went to a parent {a dad} with a child and told him he was lost.
the parent informed a worker and the rangers came to him and waited
for that parent to call.
apparently it happens all the time.
when the rangers left us,
words spilled out with tears from finn.
he said he got distracted before he even got in line for the ride,
and went off to look at another ride.
i let him know that it happens and
that it was MY fault for not walking him right to the front of the line
instead of pointing him in the direction.
{even rule followers get distracted}
being lost is something a child never forgets,
and something a parents will wants to forget,
but never does.
that day was a reminder for me to be more careful.
AND to continue to reinforce the rules of what to do in
emergencies so that the boys can act. finn was frustrated
about what happened, but he said he was glad he remembered
what to do.
~ finn told me recently that c lost him in home depot a few times
this past year too. a few times? mmm. i need to talk to c about that.
