Safety first

At the children’s museum in Dayton, there is a rope climb that leads from the ground floor to the second floor, then the kids can either visit other exhibits on the second floor, or they can take a big, twisty, enclosed slide back down to the ground floor.

Baby B loved climbing the rope climb, so The Husband and I took turns going up with her, staying right behind her in case she lost her footing (which she never did), while the other person waited for her at the bottom of the slide. At the top of the rope climb was a vertical part that was a little more difficult to climb because of the steep angle. I’d boost Baby B up that last few feet and then hoist myself up there.

One of the times I went up with her, I lifted her up to the end of the rope climb on the second floor and had a challenging time getting myself up there. In all, it took maybe 15 or 20 seconds, so not long at all, but a lot can happen in 15 or 20 seconds.

I got my footing — and Baby B was nowhere to be found. I didn’t panic, thinking maybe she’d already gone down the slide. I looked over the railing down to the ground floor, but The Husband was still down there waiting for her. I looked around the play area on the main floor.

No Baby B.

I still didn’t panic, but I became more frantic as I searched the immediate area. Where could she be? Did she wander to the other exhibits on this floor? I don’t want to go there to check in case she reappears in the climbing area. But what if she’s wandered away and can’t find her way back to the play area?

We’re always very good and stay right with Baby while while we’re out, yet in the span of 15 seconds, I couldn’t find her.

It was quite an eye-opener.

Needless to say, we found her just fine. Turns out she had gone down the long twisty slide, but she hadn’t reached the ground floor yet, so that’s why neither I nor The Husband saw her when I looked over the railing. In all, she was out of my sight for maybe 30 seconds to a minute, but the idea of what can happen in that amount of time is scary, to say the least.

After that incident, I decided it was time to order some SafetyTats, which are temporary tattoos with your phone numbers on them. This isn’t a paid product endorsement or anything, but just something I thought was a good idea and wanted to mention to other moms. If someone finds your child, they can find your phone numbers on the tattoo and call your cell phone to help locate you.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought this was a good idea.  Baby B is at an age where we’re teaching her things that would be helpful in a situation like this, like her last name and her phone number, but what if she gets scared and doesn’t want to talk to an adult who is trying to be helpful? We are getting out and doing enough things in big crowds (zoos, children’s museums, outdoor festivals) where the likelihood of her becoming separated from us and lost is much greater, especially since we haven’t used the stroller in 8 months.

If I was separated from Baby B for maybe a minute at the most, I can’t imagine the level of anxiety that stems from a much longer separation, not knowing where your child is and if he or she is safe. I hope no one ever has to call us after seeing the phone number on the temporary tattoo, but if there’s anything I can possibly do to help reunite us more quickly, then it’s certainly worth the cost and effort.