My daughter, at around 3 years of age got lost in a mall we were at. She calmly approached a lady stranger and tld her she was lost and asked for her help to locate me. Also tld the stranger she could not remember my phone no. And the lady brought her to the info counter and got the ppl there to page for me. Back story: We were at a mall quite sometime before this incident happened and saw a kiddo crying real bad, cos he can’t find his parents and was inconsolable even tho ppl were trying to help him. So I used that as a teaching point for my v young daughter and tld her not to panic if such thing should happen to her. I tld her to walk around first to see if she can locate me nearby. If I’m nowhere nearby, to immediately approach any kind looking stranger or a shop assistant and tell the person she is lost and needs help locating her mum. I did try to get her to remember my no. But at the point of getting lost, she couldn’t yet remember. But she remembered what I taught her quite sometime back and put it to use! I honestly din expect her to remember what I taught cos I only did so once, never repeated it. Only occasionally try to get her to repeat my phone no. Lol! But she was able to execute it so calmly even I was so impressed with her calmness.
My friend once said it’s a privilege to be able to take care of her baby. That’s one of the many rocks that supports my mental health when time is rough.