I need help, I lost my mom...

Child was very precocious. She was active, social, smart, and busy. All the time. We went places often. I had to teach her early who she should approach if she got lost. We even had a color code. I wonder if she still remembers it? I taught her to recite her name, address, and phone number by age 3. When I had pneumonia before she was even 3, I taught her how to dial 0 and say, "My mommy can't breathe." Luckily, she never had to make the call, but I am confident she would have calmly done so. After I coughed really badly, she was to ask me if I could breathe. If I could not answer, she was to make the call.

Anyway, if she got lost she was to approach a police officer first. She was to tell him/her she was lost and request assistance in locating me. This was pre-cell phone days. But, what to do if no officers were present? I didn't want her to hide and wait for one.

So we made up a heirarchy of who is to be approached if no officers were around. We discussed it. If we were shopping, she was to go to a salesperson in the store. After that, a person who looked like a mommy. Third choice, I picked teenagers. They are usually pretty helpful. Really. For a lost child? I figured that was a good choice. Next was an older couple.

My child would not have panicked for one minute if she had been separated from me. She knew what to do and would have done it. This is the child who stood up in her seat at age 3 or 4 and yelled at everyone in the movie, ET, when it appeared he was dying. We were in the last row, so everyone heard her clearly, "What is wrong with you people? Why are you crying? Can't you see he is just PLASTIC?"

I knew what to do too. More than once, in the grocery store, she responded immediately to the intercom system saying, "Child! Please come to the front of the store. Your mother is ready to leave." She would come scurrying up. She wasn't lost. She was busy. She was also probably a teenager by then.