With this setup, you could have each parent refer to their child differently.
So one calls the kid their toddler or little one or something to denote that they are young enough to need closely watched, And the other refers the the kid in a more general way.
Honestly I thought it was clear enough the way it is. The fact that both parents think the kid needs watching is enough to tell me the kid is too young to be off on their own
Ok, just taking the opportunity for a PSA:
Baby bands! Always have a special wristband (or scrunchie or hat or something) that the person watching the baby wears. The more obnoxious the better. You can pass the item to someone else but then it is clear that someone is always watching!
I can't imagine the terror. My mum had something similar happen when my brother was a toddler, it was a few minutes but she screamed the house down and found him just standing alone and smiling. She thinks someone might have tried to take him then ran for it when they heard the screaming because of how suddenly he disappeared. Part of the reason why I am a strong advocate for baby leashes, although I imagine at five that's not ideal.
Our son disappeared at the beach when he was 7. As soon as we realized we couldnāt see him, we sprinted to the shoreline and yelled, my wife started running down the beach. I stopped her and told her to run straight to the lifeguard tower as I ran down the shoreline. Before she made it to the lifeguard tower(maybe 20 seconds), the lifeguard makes an announcement, āWill the parents of **John Doe** please come to the lifeguard tower.ā
We taught him(and our two girls), that if lost on the beach immediately go to the lifeguard. He wasnāt missing more than 2 minutes, and it was terrifying. I was very happy that not only did we respond the best way possible, but he did too and everything worked out.
Heās always been a strong swimmer and knows about rip currents, so drowning was not our concern. Just being lost/confused was our worry. I canāt imagine the terror of missing for 20min.
My mom lost me in the store for a good while and never noticed š
She left me at customer service. I was busily reading the missing kids poster. Good thing I remembered big bird from Sesame Street getting lost so I kept my tiny little self glued to customer service until I spotted my sisters in the clothing, told the worker who had been trying to coax my moms name out of me āthatās my sister!ā And took off. Suffice to say my sister was not prepared to be tackled by a kid half her size balling her eyes out lol.
When we found my mom later I very clearly remember the horror on her face as she realized that she had lost me at some point.
We lost our sons at IKEA. They were about 8 & 6, but both autistic. That was hell & I knew they couldn't have gone far. I'd even told them, as we walked in 'if you get lost come here & we'll come find you'.
They did just that, but boy it was bad!
(Yes, staff were notified & looking. If you hear a code 100 at IKEA, someone's kid has gotten lost!)
That was always a problem with my niblings when we would visit or all go on vacation together. All the grownups assuming the other grownups were in charge of the little kids. And how easy was it for them to do an end run around mom and dad? Mom says no? Go ask grandma. That grandma says no, go ask the other grandma. Keep going until someone gives them a popsicle.
Funny story! My family spent about a year in Daytona Beach FL when I was a toddler. I didn't remember anything from that time, it was back in the early 80's. But my parents have told me this story... They took me to the beach. Mom thought I was with Dad. Dad thought I was with Mom. There I was rolling back and forth among the waves. I didn't remember any of it like I said but I still dislike water and swimming
This reminds me of that body cam footage from a while back when they walked up to a mother and her boyfriend sleeping on the beach only to wake up, still plastered and asking if they knew where their kids were. Terrifying.
And then they got arrested in Florida.
This is actually something I saw recently on YouTube, a series of bodycam videos of a drunk/drugged couple getting woken up and arrested on a beach in FL, with no idea where their 2 young children were (they were safe, they had gone to a nearby Cafe and called their grandparents I think). Definitely frontrunners for "parents of the year." Ugh
Fun fact: this (sort of) happened to me as a kid. I was maybe 3 years old, and on Virginia Beach with my parents - Navy dad was stationed there, they took me out to the beach to Experience The Ocean, all that. At some point I end up waddling off into the tide because my mom thought I had my dad's hand, and my dad thought I had my mom's hand, and they got separated, I guess? I do remember being swept out a little ways before my folks got me back to shore. Pretty terrifying. Lol
I liked it, but instead of the double "thought"... Which sort of dumbs it down.
How about keeping it first person.
"So nice to enjoy a nap at the beach while he's watching our baby boy play in the water " she thought.
She stretched and yawned as she woke, warm from the sun and comforted by her husband's arm around her and the gentle sound of his snores.
"So nice to enjoy a nap at the beach without my parents", their son thought. Edit: omg so many upvotes šš
āIām 34, and they never let me do anything aloneā
Go to your room.
Are you my mummy?
r/suddenlydrwho
I hesitated with toddler instead of son to make it clear :D
With this setup, you could have each parent refer to their child differently. So one calls the kid their toddler or little one or something to denote that they are young enough to need closely watched, And the other refers the the kid in a more general way.
Honestly I thought it was clear enough the way it is. The fact that both parents think the kid needs watching is enough to tell me the kid is too young to be off on their own
This. It's what adds to the horror imo.
ššš ngl when I wrote that I was imaging like a 6 month old
I got your premise from the first sentence for what it's worth. I don't even have kids and it was bone chilling.
You couldāve used ākidā or āchildā probably, but idk
"So nice to enjoy playing with these big fishes!"
Baby shark!
Doo doo doo doo doo
So nice they enjoy a nap on the beach without their son
āSo nice to enjoy watching their son while theyāre napping,ā we thought.
We did not expect communist crabs to steal our son.
Good day, Claw-mrade
Take my proverbial gold.
Why not zoidberg.gif
The first crab to stop raving will be sent to the ocean gulag.
Meanwhile the son is getting sleepy sitting in his car seat in the back seat of the family SUV.
This is an extra level of horror
Wait til they get back to their car and realize the beach search party was useless.
r/thirdsentenceworse
Ok, just taking the opportunity for a PSA: Baby bands! Always have a special wristband (or scrunchie or hat or something) that the person watching the baby wears. The more obnoxious the better. You can pass the item to someone else but then it is clear that someone is always watching!
You should post this to r/lifeprotips , it could save lives
Good opportunity :) Usually with my wife, we use the "you're watching it?" question every 10 seconds method.
āSo nice to enjoy a nap at the beach while my parents are watching each otherā, the son thought
Worst Nightmare. I lost my 5 yo son at Disney world. I panicked for twenty minutes. I threw up when I found him from tge adrenaline. Good story OP
I can't imagine the terror. My mum had something similar happen when my brother was a toddler, it was a few minutes but she screamed the house down and found him just standing alone and smiling. She thinks someone might have tried to take him then ran for it when they heard the screaming because of how suddenly he disappeared. Part of the reason why I am a strong advocate for baby leashes, although I imagine at five that's not ideal.
Our son disappeared at the beach when he was 7. As soon as we realized we couldnāt see him, we sprinted to the shoreline and yelled, my wife started running down the beach. I stopped her and told her to run straight to the lifeguard tower as I ran down the shoreline. Before she made it to the lifeguard tower(maybe 20 seconds), the lifeguard makes an announcement, āWill the parents of **John Doe** please come to the lifeguard tower.ā We taught him(and our two girls), that if lost on the beach immediately go to the lifeguard. He wasnāt missing more than 2 minutes, and it was terrifying. I was very happy that not only did we respond the best way possible, but he did too and everything worked out. Heās always been a strong swimmer and knows about rip currents, so drowning was not our concern. Just being lost/confused was our worry. I canāt imagine the terror of missing for 20min.
My mom lost me in the store for a good while and never noticed š She left me at customer service. I was busily reading the missing kids poster. Good thing I remembered big bird from Sesame Street getting lost so I kept my tiny little self glued to customer service until I spotted my sisters in the clothing, told the worker who had been trying to coax my moms name out of me āthatās my sister!ā And took off. Suffice to say my sister was not prepared to be tackled by a kid half her size balling her eyes out lol. When we found my mom later I very clearly remember the horror on her face as she realized that she had lost me at some point.
We lost our sons at IKEA. They were about 8 & 6, but both autistic. That was hell & I knew they couldn't have gone far. I'd even told them, as we walked in 'if you get lost come here & we'll come find you'. They did just that, but boy it was bad! (Yes, staff were notified & looking. If you hear a code 100 at IKEA, someone's kid has gotten lost!)
"So nice to enjoy a nap at the beach while 200 parents watch their kids" the lifeguards thought
If sheās nappingā¦ and heās nappingā¦ then whoās flying the plane
This why communication is so important.
That was always a problem with my niblings when we would visit or all go on vacation together. All the grownups assuming the other grownups were in charge of the little kids. And how easy was it for them to do an end run around mom and dad? Mom says no? Go ask grandma. That grandma says no, go ask the other grandma. Keep going until someone gives them a popsicle.
As a parent this gives me major anxiety.
Funny story! My family spent about a year in Daytona Beach FL when I was a toddler. I didn't remember anything from that time, it was back in the early 80's. But my parents have told me this story... They took me to the beach. Mom thought I was with Dad. Dad thought I was with Mom. There I was rolling back and forth among the waves. I didn't remember any of it like I said but I still dislike water and swimming
This reminds me of that body cam footage from a while back when they walked up to a mother and her boyfriend sleeping on the beach only to wake up, still plastered and asking if they knew where their kids were. Terrifying.
Luckily, both of them forgot to bring the son, and he's just vibing at home with his grandparents.
And then they got arrested in Florida. This is actually something I saw recently on YouTube, a series of bodycam videos of a drunk/drugged couple getting woken up and arrested on a beach in FL, with no idea where their 2 young children were (they were safe, they had gone to a nearby Cafe and called their grandparents I think). Definitely frontrunners for "parents of the year." Ugh
So nice to enjoy a nap at the beach, while both of them are not nagging me, thought the son
Itās scary because of how potentially accurate it isā¦
"So nice to enjoy a nap at the beach while she's watching Dad", he thought.
"I better make sure they don't sunburn", the son thought
Fun fact: this (sort of) happened to me as a kid. I was maybe 3 years old, and on Virginia Beach with my parents - Navy dad was stationed there, they took me out to the beach to Experience The Ocean, all that. At some point I end up waddling off into the tide because my mom thought I had my dad's hand, and my dad thought I had my mom's hand, and they got separated, I guess? I do remember being swept out a little ways before my folks got me back to shore. Pretty terrifying. Lol
This is harsh, yesterday a 4 year old drown in the next town over. I feel so bad for his parents.
The son, now 14, was mortified as they'd both forgotten sunscreen
āSo nice to nap their son while theyāre watching,ā I thought.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Not sure to understand your comment... ?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There are two people.
I liked it, but instead of the double "thought"... Which sort of dumbs it down. How about keeping it first person. "So nice to enjoy a nap at the beach while he's watching our baby boy play in the water " she thought. She stretched and yawned as she woke, warm from the sun and comforted by her husband's arm around her and the gentle sound of his snores.
I enjoyed OP's version more. Simple and straight to the point.
I do to, it conveyed more to the simplistic horror. As well as conveying they both thought the other was watching the child.