Sorry Another PSA!

Tonight the City of RSM hosted their second Summer Concert of the season, Neon Nation was playing and I thought they were great, but that is not the reason why I am blogging tonight.  Tonight's blog post is another one of my public service announcements,  again I know that I do not have kids and that I get all preachy on the do's and don'ts of raising them, but I kind of feel qualified with all of the years of babysitting (not the kind of babysitting where you play games and put them to bed babysitting, but the kind where you go places and do fun things) and from all of the years of running summer camps and going on field trips.  Anyways, I was sitting in my chair, hanging with my parents and I saw this cute little girl walk by me and I knew right away she was lost, I looked at my mom and said "she is lost", so I watched her wander around for a few minutes and then I went up to her and asked her if she was looking for her mommy and she said "yes", so I grabbed her hand and took her up to the band so they could make an announcement and hope to find her parents.  The best part of this whole situation is that the little girl could tell me her name, tell me what her Dad's name was and how old she was and she was only two!  She was probably closer to being three, but still it was awesome.  So my message tonight is to make sure that your kiddo's know what your names are not just mommy and daddy, but your real names, make sure they know their last name and their phone number.  Had this little girl not known her name and her dad's name it might of taken us longer to find her parent's. 

So some tips when you are going to public places with little ones.....

• Take a picture of them with your camera or cell phone before you leave home, that way you have a current picture of your child in the outfit that they are wearing at that particular place, that way if they get lost you can give the most update info to the police.
• Teach your children if the are lost to find someone that works there, meaning you find an employee in a uniform, show your child what the uniform looks like and tell them they can ask them for help, it works, had a summer camp kid who got lost and did that exact thing and we were all reunited.   
• Teach your child to find a mom with kids and ask her for help.
• Set-up meeting places, find the most obnoxious/large object that can been seen from far distances (like the purple gorilla at Wild Rivers) and make that your go to spot the minute you or your child cannot find each other, I can tell you from experience that it works.
• Get your child finger printed, it is free and it is very important. 
  

And just a reminder, it is summer time, it is hot out and it is swim season, please watch your kids around the pool.  Last week in Ladera Ranch a 14month old little boy drowned in a pool because his mom was not watching him (absolutely no excuse for that), had it not been for the 19 year old swim coach that was just leaving the pool hearing this mother's screams and his quick action to call 911 and start CPR this little guy most likely would not of survived.  Remember CPR saves lives, sign up for a class today, it is one of the best things you can do for your family.