You may recall Katy, the mom who told her 6-year-old to sit by the luggage for a little bit at Newark Airport while she ran to get them food. The girl got nervous and wandered off, only to be found by some kindly stranger who brought her to a lady in uniform, who quickly returned the girl to where she’d been waiting. The mother and child reunion was only a moment away.
The problem is not just that this interlude was, understandably, upsetting. It’s the fact that ever since it happened, mom and daughter have been talking about it many times, overcome with regret and recrimination. Now both are very nervous about doing anything apart again.
So, both here and at Let Grow I asked you for advice that might help both of them feel more confident and less like “failures.” You responded in spades! Most of you tried to explain to Katy that hiccups like this are normal, if unpleasant. You added that the quick resolution of the drama is actually proof that most people are good, and that even when a kid gets lost it’s usually not that big a deal.
Then you had some advice on how to keep this kind of problem from happening again, and why self-flagellation is as pointless as it is painful.
To read some of the advice, all of it kind, head over to Let Grow by clicking here!