Shopping can be frantic as several studies report that almost 2000 children are lost at mall every year. Therefore, shopping with toddler can be stressful as parents have to focus on paying bills and looking after child’s safety simultaneously. At the same time, shopping along with your little ones is a matter of serious concern as you would not want your child to get lost or injured. So, follow these simple steps to ensure safe shopping with toddlers.
1. Remind your children not to wander
Parents should teach their children the importance of sticking with them during a shopping trip. They should remind children not to wander here and there. Whenever your child sticks to your instructions and doesn’t fuss, appreciate him/her through verbal or material reinforcement. This creates a positive impression on child’s mind.
2. Carry a recent photo
Parents should always carry a recent photograph of their child with their distinguished characteristics such as height, skin color, eye color and birth marks written on the back of the photograph. This comes handy if the child gets lost in the mall or shop. The photo can be used for quick identification.
3. Make the children carry parent’s cell phone number at a place which is easily visible
Generally, parents ask their child to remember house telephone number or the common spot in the mall for family’s reunion in case the child is lost. Although, the common spot serves the purpose of reunion, remembering house telephone number is not. This is because even if the child somehow manages to call the number, he/she is unable to reach you as you are in the mall and not home. Therefore, ask him/her to remember your cell phone number. In fact write your number on a piece of paper and keep it in child’s pocket, reminding him to call that number if he/she ever loses his/her way. This is a good way to deal with emergencies.
4. Kids should be dressed in bright colors
Making kids wear clothes of brighter colors is good because being bright they absorb positive energies and reflect the negative ones. Moreover, this also helps in remembering what your child has worn and to even locate the child in the crowded places. Also, providing description of the clothes as part of the physical description, helps the shopkeepers, shoppers, police, guards and employees to find the child.
5. Children should be taught to seek out another mommy if they need help
If asked, the young children have exceptional quality of identifying other mommies. One would be surprised to see how well they can identify them in comparison to some other unknown persons. So, kids should be trained to identify other mommies and to approach them, if they get lost, instead of going to someone else because mommies are generally eager to help the lost child. It’s difficult for kids to identify police, guards or employees.
6. Look and listen in the immediate area
Small children have the habit of playing hide and seek in every potential place they find. So, at times kids hide under the clothes rack or under the counter desk or in some other shop or amongst the toys and expect their parents to find them. Though, it sounds very easy but it’s very tough. When the parents try to find them they start getting impatient and if they are unsuccessful they get panic-stricken. Though, many shops have trained personnel to find missing children, some engage all their employees to find them while the rest close all their doors so that the child can’t runaway from there. Moreover, if such kind of emergency happens, the parents should call up the police while they are looking for the child and keep the police informed until they have reached the spot. One has to always remember that the only formula of locating a missing child is “quick action is the key to successful recovery”.
7. Reunion should be celebrated
Once the child is located, parents should celebrate with them instead of scolding as this would encourage the child to stay lost if something like this ever happens again. Because according to child psychology, a child would prefer staying lost than being scolded. But later on, explain the child the importance of staying with parents during a shopping trip and teach him basic self help techniques to perform in case he/she gets lost again.
