Travel Guides Family Friendly
Nicole Cord-Cruz
Few things are more enjoyable than exploring new places with your loved ones. Traveling with toddlers and kids can be tiring and usually requires additional logistical planning, but it’s well worth it when you see the smile on their faces. But as exciting as it is to go sightseeing with them, it can also be anxiety-inducing, especially if your child is the type to wander on their own. Your curious little one can easily get lost in a crowd if you’re not careful enough. If you get distracted for as much as half a second, they might jet off in the opposite direction to do their own exploring.
A missing child can quickly turn a fun trip into a nightmare. Fortunately, there are a couple of hacks you can do to locate them quickly in the event that they decide to break away from the rest of the group. According to a TikTok mom, one of the lesser-known ways to find your child in crowded places is the “look loud” method, which involves looking with your mouth. No, seriously.
Consider the ‘look loud’ method
@jesmartini
Every parent and caregiver should have this info. Please watch and share, this SAVES LIVES #momsoftiktok #fyp #psa stay-safe #jesmartini
♬ original sound – Jess martini
You know how they say that when you’re finding something, you should look with your eyes and not with your mouth? Well, when it comes to locating your kid, it pays to use both. TikTok user @jesmartini explained in a viral video that employing what she coined the “look loud” method can help you find your child faster. She shared that it worked for her when she once lost her son at a supermarket.
Now what does it mean to look loud, you ask? Apparently, it involved describing the physical characteristics of your child loudly, so people around you can also hear them and help you look. “If you’re at an amusement park, zoo, mall, whatever it is, and you look around and your child is no longer with you, what you want to do is start loudly looking for them,” she explained. “It’s going to sound like this: ‘I’m looking for a boy, age five, short brown hair, brown eyes, Caucasian, red Nike T-shirt, black shorts, black shoes. Now you’ve got every single person who’s around you looking for your child instead of just you, and best case scenario somebody finds your child and they return them to you.”
Martini also noted that in case someone is with your child with the intention of kidnapping them, the “look loud” hack can disrupt the entire place or area and force the stranger to let go of your kid.
Other hacks you can try to keep tabs on your kid at all times
Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images
The “look loud” method is mostly useful if your child gets lost. To avoid losing sight of them in the first place, a good trick is to dress them in bright colors or loud prints so you can quickly identify them in a sea of people. You may also want to outfit them with a GPS tracker, like a smartwatch with real-time location tracking, so you can locate them on your phone, too. Using a harness or a wagon can also help since these things keep them close to you at all times.
It also goes without saying that it’s important to teach your child what to do in case they get lost and have no way of making their way back to you. According to experts, if your child is old enough to memorize information, it’s best if you teach them the basics before you go on trips. “You should [start by] teaching your child their full name, your full name, and have them memorize your cell phone number as soon as they are able,” Susan Kennedy, senior program manager for outreach and prevention at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, told Verywell Family. “That way if they get lost away from home, an adult can help them call you. Ideally, also teach them phone numbers for one or two other emergency contact people and their home address as well.”
