'Scariest 10 minutes of my life': TikTok trick helps mom find 2-yr-old son after he went missing in supermarket
HUNTER REGION, NEWZEALAND: One mother's rapid decision-making might have been the difference between leaving the supermarket with her little child in tow and living out every parent's worst nightmare. A mother in New Zealand lost her son in a Kmart in the Hunter region, but she found him thanks to a parenting tip she may have seen on TikTok.
The mom discovered her two-year-old son Nathan was missing as she was purchasing at the store. She immediately instructed a friend to inform the staff so they could make sure he didn't leave by the front exit of the store.
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'Scariest 10 minutes of my life'
The mom wrote in a Facebook post, "Another friend searched the area he was last seen." The mother started sprinting down the aisles and sifting through the clothing racks looking for him. It was the "scariest 10 minutes of my life" she later wrote. But then she recalled a parenting tip posted by blogger Jess Martini on TikTok. The mother said, "If your child goes missing, screw the stares and start calling out their description," as reported by Nzherald.
"I'm missing a little boy, he's wearing a yellow shirt and has brown hair. He's two years old and his name is Nathan!" She shouted to the remainder of the shop, telling herself not to "break down." "You need people to understand you loud and clear," she said.
Everyone who heard the mother's calls instantly volunteered to look for the child. It was similar to increasing the search by ten times. "I turned an aisle and heard 'He's here!'" she wrote. "I turned back the way I came and there he was. A man had walked past him after hearing me calling out."
The mom's post was copied and shared across Facebook. It can be read here.
Jess Martini's parenting blog
Upon realizing that he might not have known the youngster was missing if she hadn't shouted out, she thanked the man right away. "Nate would have walked past him and he wouldn't have blinked," she said.
Parenting blogger Jess Martini shared the greatest method for parents to find a missing child in a video she posted in November. According to her, the natural reaction is to simply yell their name or stealthily search the area, as reported by Upworthy.