I lost Ava on the beach!
Yesterday, I took our 4 children to the beach because it was hot and humid and the beaches in the Netherlands are windy and fresh. I met up with our friend Maud and her two children, and we were lounging and chatting and drinking fresh fruit juices and watching our children play. You get the gist.
At some point, when Pim had asked me to play beach ball with him for the gazzilionest time, I finally got my lazy bum up from the deckchair for some tennis with my boy. After 3 minutes I looked around, and I noticed Ava was missing. Gone!
I started to walk around, looking for her. Nothing. I checked the water. Nothing. I went up to the beach club, nothing. And then I started to panic.
I started to run around, calling her name. I called the alarm number. I ran back to the beach club, where the part time manager happened to be a police agent. He answered my call from the coast guard and tried to calm me, assuring me that she would be fine, she would get back. But the only thing I could focus on, is on that tiny chance that she wouldn't be allright!
I don't think I have ever been so afraid in my life.
In the meantime, there were loads of people (other mums) helping me search. Maud was running all over the beach and to the streets. But she was gone!
After a few minutes (in which I died a thousand deaths), my hero policeman finally got a call that she was found. Safely, further up on the beach. Actually quite a bit of a walk away!
Thankfully, she was safe. Tired, but safe. And I learned a few things, that I wanted to share with you here...
Beaches can be busy. In our case it was! Ava lost her way, and couldn't find our spot again. So she started to walk, looking for us. What I usually do (and stupidly forgot this time), is to look for an anchor point -- a certain flag, pole, bright umbrella, any reference that is noticeable enough for a child to find their way back to our spot.
Children should always wear a phone number on their arm. My other children were wearing their bracelets with my phone number, but Ava had taken hers off and I hadn't checked / noticed. Stupid.
When children loose their way on the beach, they generally start walking away from the sun and the wind. So best to start looking in that direction. (So true -- in our case, this is exactly the direction in which Ava went).
Apparently, finding a decent photo of your missing child and recalling crucial information like length and eye colour is super difficult if you're in a state of total stress and shock. So it makes sense to save a good portrait and some important info of you child somewhere in a clearly marked album on your phone.
Hopefully none of this is ever necessary, but I thought to tell you just in case. It's better to be safe than sorry.
xxx Esther
(Artwork by Andreas Gursky)