The hotel elevator opened on the 11th floor and a 4-year-old boy walked out. Surprisingly, no one else was on the elevator. A family of four boarded the elevator like nothing unusual had just happened.
A man on his way to the gym and I stopped, watched the little guy go confidently down the hall, looked at each other, and chose not to board the elevator. “I’ll keep an eye on him,” I said. “I’ll call the front desk,” said the gym guy.
As I chatted with little Ryan in the hallway for a few minutes, a couple of security guards reached the 11th floor, followed quickly by Ryan’s panic-stricken dad. It all ended well.
True story. That really happened to me in LA two weeks ago.
The quick resolution to Ryan’s challenge was aided by a couple of helpful strangers. Teach your child that certain strangers can be helpful. They can be in the form of police officers, security officers, moms with children, and store clerks. And sometimes they take other forms, like the gym guy and me.
Teach your children what to do if they become separated from you in a crowd or a store or in any public place. Teach them to look for a helpful stranger. They’ll be there.
More Ready Today! 
Actually one of the very best things you can teach a child is to “look for a mom”. Gavin deBecker advises this in his excellent books. Statistically women are far safer for children than men and women with children are easily considered the most safe for children.
deBeckers books are excelled, particularly “The Gift of Fear”, and “Protecting the Gift”. They should be at your local library but are well worth buying.
Wonderful advice, Joann! Look for a mom. Bet I kind of looked like someone’s mom to Ryan.