If I was worried about being kidnapped, I sure as heck wouldn’t be plastering my child all over the internet, knowing how easy it is to find out where they live. Apologies in advance, this might be long.
I’ve never really shared this with many people (as talking about it still scares me);we were at Disneyland Paris in 2010 when my son was almost 3 and my daughter was about 9 months. At the Playhouse Disney show, they made all kids sit on the floor in the middle, with adults around the edge on sort of benches. He was literally a couple of feet away and we could see him throughout. At the end of the show, everyone grabbed their kids and started to leave, but in the ‘melee’ we lost sight of him. We panicked and told a cast member, ran around shouting his name etc. They told us to calm down and wait until everyone had left, so we did, but he had vanished. I gave my daughter to my husband and I literally ran outside shouting. I caught sight of a woman walking away carrying him towards the entrance. She didn’t seem to be looking for his parents or a cast member, and she didn’t speak English. I grabbed him, said thank you and left, in tears of relief. I’m shaking now writing this. I didn’t tell anyone (eg police, anyone ‘official’) as I didn’t want them to think I was being xenophobic and assuming the worst, just because she was a lady in full burka/face covering. I’m not at all racist, but was worried people might think I was, which is irrational, I know.
She could genuinely have been helping, but he was a cute blonde kid and you hear so many ‘urban myths’. They must have picked him up almost straight away as he literally just ‘vanished’ under our eyes.
I really worry that exposing J to so many people is a really bad idea. If they are reading this, it’s a genuine concern, as I wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.
Everything turned out fine, of course, and he can’t even remember it, but it scares me what might have been.