Keep the little ones close

My son disappeared at Lakewood Campground in Myrtle Beach two years ago. He was found. He was 7 then. If you know the area, we always sit by the creek that separates Lakewood from Pirate Land.
We were 30 yards from the big rocks, he wanted to go play at the creek. We could see him, so we let him. First time in 3 years camping we let him go off by himself.
After about 10 minutes my wife couldn't stand it, and walked up there. He was gone. Every kid in the beach became a skinny blonde haired boy.

He was found down by the hippo slide area. How he got past us is still a mystery. He had found a shell he wanted to show his mom. Somehow he passed us and we didn't even see him.
I have never been so scared in all my life. Needless to say he didn't leave our side the rest of that trip, and last year either!
Kinda funny: the next day he said "dad, can I go to the creek by myself again? I won't get lost this time".... I just laughed and told him he was crazy if he thought he was going anywhere without me or his mom.

We thought we were overly protective parents, my wife was a nanny for years before we married. She's been responsible for kids in CA, HI, NY...

They can disappear so fast. I feel for the parents.

We were at Deer Meadows in Cooks Forest over the weekend.A 2yr old fell into a camp fire. They landed the Med Stat helicopter in the campground to take him to the hospital. You really got to keep an eye on the little ones!

Prayers for the family and their tragic loss.

I grew up camping from coast to coast, and we had many scrapes and close calls. It's a wonder any of us grow up!

Rest in peace, little one.
elizabeth

We have a 5 year old and 1 year old at home, we do not let either out of sight when camping. They both remain in their car seats in the truck when moving the TV/TT.

Anaro your procedure to confirm where little ones are during hookup and movement is a good one.

So tragic. When my boys were younger we just kept them buckled in their car seats until we were done. They just ran around too much while we were setting up. Thoughts and prayers to the family.

my heart and prayers go out to that family. I can't even imagine what they are going through. When we first started camping dd was about 3 1/2 yrs old. DH went to take the dog for a short walk and the trash out to the dumpster. I was messing around in one of the cabinets. In that 1 or 2 min DD silently exited the TT. I noticed pretty quickly but not before she had managed to make it out of the campsite onto the campground road and down 1 or 2 sites. She was trying to catch up to daddy. thankfully no cars were coming and I got to her quickly. DH wasn't far away and had dropped the trash running back when I yelled. She quickly learned that exiting the door without asking first was a no no. She has locked us out of the bathroom one night (thankfully she was on the same Side as us so no panick, just a pain).

we now set up with DH taking care of everything outside and I do the inside things. DD helps me unless DH asks for something then she gets to be my little runner (she is 6 now). we also never move a vehicle until we know exactly where she is. If we are repositioning at a site I verify she is in the truck with me, sitting on the picnic table or in the trailer (I'm always the one behind the wheel for this). If hooking up I again verify her location, if I can't see her I make sure DH has an eye on her unless she is inside the TT watching TV during hook up then that is doublechecked.

Reader1 wrote:
Thoughts and prayers are with this family. Children are so very fast that they can be gone within a minute. When my son was 4, we finished eating outside. I took the dishes into the pop-up, laid them down, went out and he was gone. The neighbor across told me immediately that DS had ridden his big wheel up the hill. I ran after him terrified. I always thought I was overly careful and it still happened.

Isn't that the truth! We have a severely mentally handicapped son who cannot talk but can walk very well. We always watched him like a hawk and usually one of us is within hands reach of him. This particular day we were distracted by the weather--it was threatening rain so we got busy putting stuff away and zipping up the tent screens. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Christian walking alone through the site. In the time it took me to turn around and run to him, he walked off a 15ft cliff! :E The next thing my DH saw was me going over the cliff after him! Thank God there was a creek bed at the bottom that was thick with muddy leaves. We were a mess, but basically unhurt. All it took was a few seconds but it made an impression on us for life.

My heart aches for these people and my prayers are with them. My 5 year old son is a high functioning autistic, and this is our most difficult problem with him. If something looks interesting, or he doesn't want to do something, or he wants to play a game, he runs off. He seldom responds and comes back when he is called, does not recognize boundaries like "don't go past the tree", and won't follow along like most kids. We are hyper vigiliant about him, but he has still escaped a couple times nearly causing my heart to stop. Once at home he went out the back door, climbed the hill in the back yard, and then scaled the 3 1/2 foot brick wall between us and the neighbor. Would not respond to his name, I finally saw him wandering the neighbors yard after climbing the hill. Back door now has a lock he can't reach. Once was at a friends house at a party. He went out the front door after someone let another person in and did not re lock it. Thank God it was a quiet neighborhood culde-sac. He was over halfway down the block.

photonanax3 wrote:
As a nana, I know too how hard it is to keep track of 3 very active little boys and how quickly they can run off. When camping with us, I give them little jobs to help set up and in most cases I'm able to keep a closer eye on them.

My heart too goes out to this family as Monday would have been this little girls 2 yr birthday.

Was not camping but a small boy in the area wandered off in a instant...... Woods are common here..... It was cold & everyone searching thought the worst....... The next morning he was found with his dog who kept him from freezing overnight....... If it was not for his dog he probably would not have survived.................a happy ending but not always...................