When Panic Pays Off

Any mom who has ever lost her kid in a store, will tell you it can be one of the most terrifying moments. Did my kid wander off and out into the street? Is he lost somewhere and upset? Did someone take him? Is he hurt?

This weekend while visiting my very, very pregnant best friend in Atlanta, we both left TJ Maxx sick to our stomachs as we watched a woman fearful that her child had been taken from her. The lesson learned for us both was sometimes panicking really does help.

As we were walking through the aisles I heard a nearby woman calling her daughter..."Isadora, Isadora." (Followed by what I think was a series of questions in Spanish: Where are you? I can't find my daughter? Answer me Isadora! etc.) After I saw the woman running up and down the aisle a few times, I walked over near her. She started yelling her daughters name louder and louder and yelling in English that her daughter was missing. She screamed and yelled and cried, all the while giving orders: "She's two. She has black hair. Her name is Isadora. Someone has taken my child. Close the front doors." Initially, I thought this lady was a bit crazy, since I was pretty sure the kid was hiding in the racks. But within less than a minute, the entire store had stopped operating and everyone was looking for the little girl and the doors at the front had been closed with a manager on guard. My friend searched the bathrooms and the store room and I ran up and down the aisles calling the girl's name.

She was found under a rack looking at a Disney Princess shirt. Her mother collapsed on the floor sobbing and rocking the little girl. Everyone went back to their shopping.

Her panic paid off. No way was any child getting out of that store unnoticed. Strangely enough, the woman's strategy (probably not my own) paid off. I'd rather leave the store embarrassed with my child than without her.