A security guard at Lulu Hypermarket consoling a child. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
Increasing cases of lost children have become a burden on shopping malls and hypermarkets and some of them have even introduced new methods to deal with the frequently-arising problematic situations.
On an average, three to five cases of lost children are reported at some shopping malls and hypermarkets every day with an increase in cases during the weekends.
As the incidents happen so frequently, the managements of some malls have started training their staff to handle such cases. Although the lost children are found safe, the risk of them getting into trouble cannot be ruled out as most of them are between the ages of three and five.
Several representatives at shopping malls and hypermarkets The Peninsula spoke to said that the cases of lost children were becoming “frequent” putting an extra burden on the staff. Some see it as a result of “irresponsible parenting” as it’s the responsibility of the parents to monitor their children.
If a lost child is found by a security guard or other staff at a mall or hypermarket, they will be brought to the customer care or the security desk and announcements are made mentioning the name or about the appearance of the child.
“We often get lost children at different branches of our hypermarkets. There are about 75 security guards at each hypermarket and these children are mostly found by them. Once they are brought to the customer care desk, our trained staff will make a conversation with the child to find the name. Some children will talk, others won’t. If we find the name, we will announce it or give a brief description of the child with approximate age and colour of the dress,” a senior official at Lulu Hypermarket told The Peninsula.
“Our staff and security are trained to handle such situations. If the child is crying or panicked we will offer items like chocolates and ice cream to calm them. Some parents will arrive within minutes, but there are others who report after half an hour, sometimes," he said.
Although at most occasions lost children are found by the security and staff, there are cases when parents realise their children are missing and report to the mall or hypermarket management.
Most children get lost near something that attracts their attention like toy shelves, while some others are found crying in distress and searching for their parents. However, the risk of lost children running up on to an escalator or near a water fountain and getting hurt is high.
“Most children that are reported lost in stores are between three to five years old. At this age, children tend to explore, wandering around, hiding between the racks and fixtures or walking away from their parents. They are attracted by toys, colourful clothing or hideaway places. They get easily distracted by other kids or get bored,” said a store manager at a popular shopping mall.
“Too often, in my four years of retail experience, I've seen many cases of lost children. Parents shopping with their little ones lose sight of them. As far as I know all of the lost children have been found safe. But those moments when you look all over the store and the mall and nobody can find them are horrifying,” she added.
The cases of lost children are also a burden for the mall or hypermarket staff to take care of children.
“In most of the cases our staff find the lost children, not the parents. Some children will be calm and friendly but others get panicked and would start crying. It’s not easy to control them. If the parents don't come fast, on most occasions we end up babysitting,” said a customer support staff.
Some hypermarkets take help of CCTV cameras to find lost children within a maximum of ten minutes. “We have appointed internal guides at the hypermarket. Usually they find the lost children and bring them to customer care desk. It happens very frequently. If a case is reported by the parents, then we trace the child through CCTV cameras within five to ten minutes,” said an official at the Quality Hypermarket.
There are also incidents in which some lost children are found by shoppers and handed over to the mall staff.
“Every time we go to a mall or hypermarket, very often we hear an announcement about a lost child. One day I saw a small boy going around a hypermarket crying and looking for his mother. He was so much in distress. I informed the staff at the hypermarket and she took the child to the customer care desk,” said Anitha, an Indian mother of a two-year-old child.
Although there is no common practice of tagging children with contact details of parents, some official events and play areas in malls give hand bands to identify them in case of loss.
“During summer festival, the organizers put a hand band to children with our contact numbers so that it’s easy to find us if the children get lost. However, we always keep watching children because they can go out of sight in a blink of the eye. We never had such an experience,” said the father of three young children.
“It is advisable to have the child carry the parents’ mobile number, by writing it on a piece of paper and putting it in the pocket. The security can then contact you in case your child is lost. Parents need to be more careful and teach their children what to do in case they get lost,” he added.
