{"id":668,"date":"2025-10-05T13:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T13:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/?p=668"},"modified":"2025-10-05T13:00:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T13:00:27","slug":"i-lost-my-3-year-old-autistic-son-at-the-worst-place-possible-a-water-park-mom-loses-toddler-in-public-scare-says-it-takes-a-village-to-save-a-child-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/?p=668","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I lost my 3-year-old, autistic son at the worst place possible: a water park.\u2019: Mom loses toddler in public scare, says it \u2018takes a village\u2019 to \u2018save a child\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOn Labor Day, I lost my son.<\/p>\n

I lost my three-year-old, autistic son at the worst place possible: a water park.<\/p>\n

He went down the slide, ran a few feet ahead of me, turned a corner and was gone. It was as quick as that. The only thing in front of him was a lazy river with a strong current. Even if he could swim, he wouldn\u2019t stand a chance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I dove in and couldn\u2019t find him.<\/p>\n

I ran around and couldn\u2019t find him.<\/p>\n

I started calculating the seconds, the minutes. How long does it take for a toddler to drown? Whatever the answer, I was pretty sure we were past that.<\/p>\n

Then, I found a lifeguard and screamed for help. It was the last day of the summer, the last ten minutes before the water park closed for the year. I\u2019m sure everyone was mentally off the clock.<\/p>\n

And yet, they showed up.<\/p>\n

People ran, whistles blew. A young man with an internal calm stayed with me and said they\u2019d find my boy. In what condition, I wondered.<\/p>\n

And then, after what felt like forever in mom panic mode, a young girl walked over a bridge carrying him on her hip. He had gone behind a building to play.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is no greater fear than losing a child. I lost mine\u2014and we lived to tell about it. We are the lucky ones.<\/p>\n

I dress my children in neon when we\u2019re out in public. They\u2019re always wearing floatation devices, but it was required he take them off to go down the slide, so we followed the rules and did, which is why for those unfortunate few minutes he was unprotected. I wish I could say I was distracted by my phone, or talking to a friend, but my eyes never left his body. And yet, he is fast, and he was gone. Guilt has kept me awake every night since.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The minutes he was missing are a blur to me, but what I do recall is bodies running, and swimming, and calling after my son. Those who were employed by the water park, and those who were bystanders. Mr. Rogers once gave the sage advice to, \u2018look for the helpers,\u2019 when you\u2019re scared, and he was right. We can\u2019t do it without our community. Who knows what would\u2019ve happened to my boy if systems weren\u2019t in place and people didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a village to save one too. These babies belong to all of us, and we have to ask for help when we need it\u2014and even when we think we don\u2019t. Whether it\u2019s a lost child, an infant who won\u2019t sleep, or a teenager who\u2019s suicidal, it\u2019s too much to handle alone. We have an obligation to look for the helpers.<\/p>\n

Likely they\u2019re hiding in plain sight just waiting to rescue us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOn Labor Day, I lost my son. I lost my three-year-old, autistic son at the worst place possible: a water park. He went down the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":674,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668\/revisions\/674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}