Every Parent Needs to Know This Quick Hack for Locating a Lost Child in a Crowded Place

Krista Piper Gundrey/Facebook

It’s an event born out of any parents' worst nightmares. You are out with your littles — maybe even your mediums and bigs — and out of nowhere you can’t see them. Their lives and yours flash before your eyes. Anything could have happened. All your instincts are screaming at you to call out their name. But there is a better, more effective way to locate your kids in a crowd.

TikTok content creator, mom and photographer Krista Piper Gundrey shared her gratitude for the social media platform teaching her a skill she wouldn’t have known to apply. She took her children to a science museum with a play place, when all of a sudden she couldn’t see her 3-year-old, and the parenting hack quickly came in handy.

More from Cafemom: Toddler Found Submerged in Septic Tank After Vanishing While Playing in His Own Backyard

Panic set in.

@krista.piper I lost my 3 year old todah in a play place and thank god for tiktok - I’m so happy i saw that tiktok of what to do when your kid goes missing. I found her fast by raising my voice and saying a description of what she was wearing. Should have added her age or hair color but the description if little girl with pink minnie mouse shirt got thr job done finding her. #parents #parentsoftiktok #playplace ♬ original sound - Krista | Booktok | Home life

Initially, she panicked and started calling her child’s name.

"Right after I started calling her name a little lightbulb went off in my head that I remembered a TikTok that I had seen probably a year ago,” the mom of two recalled. According to the original video, yelling the child's physical description and outfit would be much more effective at getting others to help.

She shouted her daughter's description.

According to The Sun, Krista began shouting, ”little girl pink shirt, pink Minnie Mouse shirt.”

She wondered if people would think she was out of her mind, but the Columbus, Ohio, resident heard other moms repeating it like a mantra as she called. She was reunited with her little girl in less than a minute.

Another mom found her.

“Another mom found her for me and found her way faster than if I had done what I normally would have done,” she explains. “Hopefully this reaches other parents that if you are in this situation, shout out your kid’s description, you will find them faster.”

More from Cafemom: Mom Has Emotional Reunion With Missing Toddler After Stranger Spots Him Across the Country

Parents should quickly connect with law enforcement if lost children are not found after an initial and thorough search.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children advises if your child is lost at home, search closets, laundry piles, in and under beds, inside large appliances, vehicles including the trunk, and anywhere else that a child may crawl or hide. If you are in a store, notify the store manager or security immediately.

If your child is not found, call local law enforcement, provide them with your child’s birth date, height, weight, and give descriptions of anything unique such as glasses or braces.

Additionally, tell them what they were wearing and when you noticed them missing. Request your child’s information be added to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center Missing Person File immediately.

Then notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.