A mother who lost her daughter in the playground has revealed how she found her in minutes using the viral ‘looking loudly’ method.
Earlier this year, Krista Piper, from Ohio, took her two children to a play area attached to a local science museum.
While she was speaking to another parent, the wedding photographer’s toddler Lily disappeared into one of the space’s various ‘nooks and crannies’.
Speaking in a viral TikTok video, the mother-of-two recalled how she started to ‘panic’ and rushed to check one of Lily’s favourite spots in the playground.
After finding out she wasn’t there, Krista explained: ‘I came back, I grabbed her brother and I was like, “I don’t know where Lily is, we need to find her. Come help me.”
Krista Piper, from Ohio, took her two children to a playground attached to a local science museum and was terrified when she couldn’t find her daughter. Stock photo
Although Krista began calling out Lily’s name to begin with, the mother recalled how a ‘lightbulb went off’ in her head moments later.
She continued: ‘I remembered a TikTok that I had seen probably over a year ago that I kind of put in the back of my brain to never really think about again.’
The video Krista had seen was of a mother who had found her child in a supermarket by loudly describing her son’s appearance to other members of the public.
Krista said: ‘She was able to find her kid way faster so that is what I did.
‘I stopped calling [Lily]’s name and started yelling, “little girl, pink shirt, pink Minnie Mouse shirt.”‘
She added: ‘I probably should have thrown her age in there or her hair colour but you know, that was just the quickest thing I could think of to say.’
While she was doing this, the mother feared that her daughter – who she described as a ‘little ninja’ – may have somehow escaped the play area.
As she frantically searched the playground, Krista says other parents’ realised what was going on and started repeating Lily’s physical description too.
The mother shared her experience in the hope that the ‘looking loudly’ approach would help other parents in her situation
The clip has amassed over 56,000 ‘likes’ since it was uploaded last month and fans agreed that it was a ‘call to action’ for parents
As a result of the ‘looking loudly’ approach, another mother spotted Lily and let Krista know exactly where she was.
Fighting back tears, Krista added: ‘Public service announce: if you ever lose your child, your dog, anything – raise your voice.
‘I probably looked like a crazy person but it got the job done. I found my kid really fast [in comparison] to me just looking by myself or coming up to groups of parents and being like, “hey, have you seen a girl with a pink shirt?”‘
‘That’s what I probably normally would have done but the fact that I saw that TikTok, I knew what to do. So hopefully this reaches other parents.’
In total, Krista says Lily was only missing for a maximum of two minutes.
The clip has amassed over 56,000 ‘likes’ since it was uploaded last month – and parents were grateful for the advice.
One replied: ‘You don’t look crazy! all those moms knew it takes a team.’
Speaking from experience, another added: ‘This happened at the pumpkin patch last year.
‘Hundreds of people and a mom was screaming about a girl with a blue bow and found her fast.’
Meanwhile, a third wrote: ‘As a mom, if I hear someone yelling a name probably don’t think much of it but yelling a description is like a call to action to moms!’
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