Safe At The Mall

It's the crowded Christmas season and you've gone shopping with your youngster. You turn around for a split second and your child wanders off. Panic sets in and you talk yourself out of screaming. Instead, you call the child's name and hope you get an answer.

Around the Christmas holidays when stores are even more crowded, chances are greater that you and your child will separate. Author Wendy Gordon tells CBS This Morning how to deal with this frightening situation.

According to 1997 figures from the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, there are 2,300 cases of child disappearances every day that are serious enough for a parent to call the police. The FBI estimates that 85 percent to 90 percent of missing people are juveniles.

So, if you are going shopping with your children, there are some things that you as a parent can do in advance so that in the event that you and your child are separated, you can easily find each other and protect your child.

Wendy Gordon has written extensively on this subject. She researched her new book, I'm Safe! At The Mall by speaking with mall security across the country and meeting with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She says the most important thing for parents to do is to be prepared. She suggests that parents do the following things:

• Teach children their full names, first and last.
  
• Teach them your full name so that you can be paged.
  
• Make a game of identifying safe adults who can help them if they are lost. For example, ask the child to point out all of the people with store name tags.
  
• Explain that if they don't see someone with a name tag, ask a woman with children for help, but don't go anywhere with her. Explain that they should stay near where they were when they last saw you.
  
• Every time you go to the mall, review safe shopping skills. Even do it before you get to the mall. A parent can pretend to be the lost child or store clerk.
  
• Put your full name and theirs plus address, phone number, and pager number inside their clothing. You can write it on a piece of tape and attach it where they won't take it off.
  
• Avoid crowds and shop or during non-peak hours.
  
• Don't get so overloaded with packages that you can't keep up with the child. Make frequent trips to the car if you have to.
  
• Have important information of the child on hand like recent pictures, height, weight, hair color, etc.
  
• Make a note of what the child is wearing so that you can quickly identify him/her if separated.

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