Hello! What's Your Name?

Quinn is a very chatty child. He likes people. He does not discriminate. He will chat with anyone. Even strangers. Because of this he gets asked a lot "hello, what's your name"? Even though Quinn likes to talk, a lot of people have a very hard time understanding him.

There was a time when his words were all gibberish. They really didn't mean much. He just jabbered on and on to anyone who would listen. After he started speech therapy last year, he finally start to actually try REAL words. And now he has tons of real words, and tries new ones all the time. But most of the time, we are the only ones who understand him.

Quinn will be 4 in July. He starts school this fall and we will be enrolling him into french immersion (the speech language pathologist said there is no reason why - nor do any studies show - that introducing a second language to a child with a motor speech delay will cause any problems or be any more difficult compared to a child with no delay). But it got me thinking…

He can say his name. But it's not that clear (no one would probably guess it). And as for teaching him his phone number etc right now, it just isn't coming out properly. Then I had a moment of panic. What if we were out at the park, shopping, etc and I got separated from him? If he was able to find help, how could he tell them who he was? How to find me?

Toddler Bottle Cap ID Tags

Then I came up with these! Of course, I just HAD to make them cute (that was not an option). I made them so they clip on and off super quick & easy to his jacket/sweater zippers, his shoe laces in case he's not wearing a jacket, or even his pants/shorts belt loops. So he at least knows that if he can't find mommy or daddy to show someone his really neat "tag". He show's it off and says "wook (look), it's me"!

This little thing, gives me at least a bit of peace of mind we ever were to get separated. Obviously the WORST feeling a parent can ever experience and I hope none of you reading this (including me) ever have to have that gut wrenching panic.

Did you know that in 2011 there were over 46,000 missing children reported in Canada alone? That number is scary! And during those first few moments of panic after you've called the police, you are asked to provide all your child's information (what they were wearing, weight, height, age, eye/hair colour, etc) and to provide a photo. Not an easy task to do when you are in utter shock and despair. So I found this really cool app for my phone called FindMeID which is completely FREE. It allows you to input your children's photo, information about them AHEAD of time - like RIGHT NOW - (identifying marks, height/weight, eye/hair colour, etc). Should your child ever go missing, you can submit all that info (that you've already recorded ahead of time in the app) directly from the app right to Missing Kids! So if you have a smartphone, download this app now, and start filling in your children's information. It only takes a couple of minutes.

And most importantly, many do not know this… you DO NOT have to wait 24 hours before reporting your child missing!!! So do not wait. Better to report a false alarm (and be safe) rather than letting such precious first minutes in finding your child slip away.