The wristband tip Hayle and St Ives Police want parents to see

Summer in Cornwall fills the calendar with fetes, fun days and village gatherings, and anyone who has taken small children to one knows the feeling. One moment they are beside you, the next they have darted off towards the bouncy castle and vanished into a forest of legs. Ahead of the busy season, Hayle and St Ives Police have shared a simple bit of preparation that can turn that stomach-drop moment into a quick reunion.

The wristband trick that helps staff find you

The tip is about as low-tech as it gets. Before you head out, write your mobile number on your child’s event wristband. If the event does not hand out wristbands, write it on a piece of paper and tuck it securely into a pocket instead.

If a child then gets lost in a crowd, whoever finds them has a number to call. Event staff, security or emergency services can ring you directly and get your child back to you far quicker than they could otherwise.

Several children reunited at a recent event

This is not a hypothetical. At a recent community event, officers helped reunite several children with their parents after they became separated in the crowds. Everyone was back together quickly, but as the team pointed out, having contact details ready makes a stressful situation much easier to resolve.

A few more things worth doing before you go

The wristband is the headline tip, but a little planning around it goes a long way. The rest of the advice from the team:

• Agree a meeting point before you go in, so everyone knows where to head if you get split up.
• Take a photo of your child before you set off. It gives you an up-to-date picture and a record of exactly what they are wearing.
• Show children how to spot event staff, security or police officers, so they know who to approach if they need help.
• Remind younger ones of their full name and their parent or carer’s name, where they are old enough to say it.

None of it takes long, and most of it happens before you leave the house. With the summer events calendar still filling up across west Cornwall, it is a thirty-second job that could save a very long afternoon.

📷Credit: Hayle and St Ives Police