Imagine you are out at a public place like a store or a park with your young child, a child old enough to walk by him or herself but not old enough to be trusted to go off by him or herself. One minute, your child is right next to you. Then, you look away from your child to grab an item you’re shopping for, to get something out of your purse or to answer a call on your phone. When you look back, you don’t see your child anywhere.

Every parent has probably had an experience described like the one above at least once. We remember being in a store with our children when for a moment, we didn’t know where they were. We turned away to grab something off a shelf, looked back, and they were gone. Thankfully, after scanning the store for a moment, we saw them waving to us a couple aisles away. We definitely kept a tighter grip on our kids (like, putting them in the shopping cart) after that momentarily scary experience.

If your children ever go missing for more than a moment when you’re out in a public place, there’s a TikTok hack for how to find them. While most parents would probably start searching for their child or children silently, that is the wrong thing to do.

Many parents might search silently because they’re embarrassed that they don’t know where their children are. Maybe they don’t want anyone to question their parenting. Another reason might be that they don’t want to cause a scene or look silly. Forget all of this and look loudly instead.

TikTok user Jess Martini shared a potentially life-saving hack for how to quickly find your missing child when you are in a public place. Instead of frantically searching silently, get loud. Loudly describe your child while you look for him or her, that way everyone around you will know that your child is missing and will know if he or she sees your child. Basically, every adult around you will start searching for your child too.

Watch Martini’s video below for an example about exactly how this hack would sound and to learn the best and worst case outcomes of using this hack.

@jesmartiniPSA that I feel can save kids and I’ve used- if your child goes missing in public ##momsoftiktok ##PSA ##nojudgement ##fyp ##4up ##besafe ##parentsoftiktok♬ original sound – Jess martini

Many TikTok users have commented that this is definitely a useful hack. One viewer wrote, “a parent searching for her child like this is a battle cry where 99% of mothers are jumpnto help find that baby.”

Another viewer wrote, “Yes and don’t be ashamed or worried about being judged bc maaaaaaaaan I would drop everything to help a stranger look for their kid.”

Has your child ever disappeared while you were in a public place? Would you drop everything to help a parent search for her child if she were using this hack?