When I was shopping in JCPenney on my lunch break. I got on the escalator, and was followed on by a child of about 4 years. He was followed by a woman who I thought was his grandmother. No one else boarded the escalator for the ride down.

When we got off the elevator, the woman walked away from him, never looked back.

"Uh-oh," I thought, "This isn't good..."

I stopped the little boy and asked him was he lost and did he know where his Mommy or Daddy was?

He looked me straight in the eye and said,

"I'M NOT GONNA TELL YOU!"

Seems he was 'joy-riding' on the escalator...

PS:

It all ended well. I noticed a frantic woman talking to a sales person about finding her lost child. I called over to them and asked if this was the missing boy. Mother and child were reunited.

The Mom thanked me. The little boy didn't.

I'm happy all ended well. I appreciate that you took the time to check on his well being.

Oh my gosh, that "little boy" could have been my little girl 25 years ago, LOL!! :-D She was forever doing stuff like this; thought one of would surely not live through her childhood!
Now she's a well-respected pediatrician, who'd have thought :oops: ;)

Jan in VA

I remember the time, when DS was about 3 years old, we lost him in a mall. Of course we hunted then called the police, and he got everyone involved. A clerk from a book store strolled over and asked if we were hunting for a little red headed kid, he had one who was reading a book, Hop on Pop, comfortably settled under a sales table!!

I didn't know if I wanted to kiss him or spank him first!!! After that, I got a harness for him and he stayed close to us till he learned to obey the rules.

Glad you found the mom. Pretty scary when that happens.

Good job. We all need to keep our eyes wide open for those freedom loving 4 year olds (smile).

Mine got away in a Penney's in OKC, for the longest 10 minutes of my entire life. Found him in the middle of the crystal bells ringing them and saying, "MMMM, pretty!" He was 2 at the time. He'd never ventured away before and never did again, thank goodness!

I think all of us morhers have stories like this one. We had 4 kids; all of them were "lost" at least once. However, one of my DGDs is worst than all of mine put together. I'm so afraid one of these days her mother won't find her. My DD finally bought a harness; now she has misplaced it.

Cute!! :thumbup: