Lost and Found

Does anyone get lost in these days of smartphones and GPS devices? Used to be finding yourself in a strange place unexpectedly was fairly commonplace. People figured out how to get “unlost”—how to turn around and backtrack.

Nowadays, the art of getting lost—and then “found” again—has become something not many experience. As my children and husband will testify, I often get “lost,” turned around, not where I am supposed to be, when driving. But I’ve learned how to backtrack, take the next exit and retrace my steps in order to arrive at the correct destination. Getting lost doesn’t throw me for a loop anymore. Rather, it has become a chance to practice patience on a regular basis.

Most of us don’t realize how little we prepare our children to handle being lost. We keep them close to home and don’t let them go far on their bikes or scooters in order to keep an eye on them at all times. In the process, we’ve robbed our children of valuable lessons that can be learned from getting lost and then finding their way back home.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We give our oldest two kids (ages 9 and 11) a lot of freedom to roam our neighborhood on their scooters and bikes. We’ve given them certain parameters, such as not crossing certain busier streets and staying off the university campus located about a mile from our home, but other than that, the world is theirs to explore.

However, recently, Naomi, our oldest child, went for a bike ride after school and didn’t come home in time for supper. By the time we realized she was lost, she had been gone for two hours. A quick ride around the neighborhood didn’t turn up our daughter, so we were contemplating a call to the police when the phone rang. A woman had spotted Naomi sitting by her bike at a crossroads and had asked if she needed help, and Naomi had given the woman our number to call. Turns out, Naomi had gotten very far a field—several miles from home with no way of knowing how to get home again.

Naomi did the right thing in sitting in one place when she realized she was truly lost, and we’re very grateful for the woman who noticed and offered to call home for her. We asked Naomi what she should do in the future to avoid getting lost like that. Her solution? A cell phone. Our solution? Some maps of the City with our street marked and a lesson in how to find where you are on the map.

Now she carries the maps in her small purse when she goes for a bike ride, and the other day, she came back all aglow. She’d gotten “lost” again, but stopped on a corner, found the two cross streets and made her way back home.

If she’d had a cell phone, she would have simply called home to ask how to get home. But the map gave her a chance to learn on her own how to figure out where she was and where to go next.

I encourage you to keep in mind that you want your children to learn independence and reliance on you or technology will keep them from being self-sufficient. What could you let go of to that end?

Until next time,

Sarah