Toddler makes late-night run for chocolate... alone
Filed under: Toddlers Preschoolers, Health & Safety: Babies, Weird But True
Here's a boy after my very own heart. Three-year-old Max McGrath woke up at 3 A.M. and decided he wanted a chocolate egg. So he put on his brother's shoes, grabbed some money, and even remembered his house key. Then he walked a mile and a half to the supermarket. What he hadn't counted on, of course, was the store being closed. As he stood outside, no doubt disappointed, he was spotted by a delivery driver who picked him up. The boy was safely delivered home to his shocked parents.
![]() Did you hear about the toddler that drove himself to Applebee's? Or the boy who missed the bus and claimed he was kidnapped? How about the children who broke into a daycare to steal popsicles and Play-Doh, or the teens that went for a joyride in a steam locomotive? |
In all seriousness, this situation could have ended badly. Max's parents call him an "adventurous" boy, but say they never thought he'd try something like this. I woke up early one Sunday about a year ago and spotted my neighbor's two-year-old standing on the curb across the street, munching on an apple. When I returned him home, his parents had a similar reaction -- shock and awe. My own kids won't even venture downstairs in the morning without one of us in tow, so it's hard to imagine them making a cross-town trek in the middle of the night.
What about you? Are you raising an escape artist? If so, do you have a plan in place to prevent your little one from getting out without you noticing?
| Yes. My kid's the adventuring type too. | |
|---|---|
| No. They'd never dream of leaving without me. | |
| No. I've done some serious baby proofing. | |
| Other -- share with us in comments. |
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 9)
8-08-2008 @ 10:00PM
missy said...Jeez-o-pete this happened to me! While I thought my 2 year old was napping he got up, put on pants and shoes and socks (mismatched socks under crocs) walked out of his room and out the front door. I was in the bathroom of our 3 story townhome and didn't hear a peep. I had no idea he had even mastered buttoning his pants much less opening door knobs! 2 milestones in one day...I was not celebrating. haha
The unfortunate part was the mean, meddling neighbor called the police rather than just bringing my baby home. She knew which house was ours and while I'm relieved nothing happened to him - I can't believe what a spiteful and horrible neighbor she was. The ordeal was terrible. The cops threatened to take me to jail for neglect! And as a mother (and a good one at that) I have never felt so defensive and hurt. If the scary ordeal wasn't enough to deal with I had a horrible police officer in my face yelling at me.
Needless to say, every doorknob in the house has a guard on it and we have a new deadbolt on the door!
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8-08-2008 @ 10:52PM
CoCo said...One beautiful sunny winter afternoon (30 degrees) my 2 year old toddler and I had taken a nap downstairs in the family room. I’m not certain how long we were asleep or better yet how long “I” was asleep. However, what I do remember was waking up because a chill had filled the air in the room that got me quickly to my feet. Then I looked around the room and notice my toddler was gone.
Needless to say, frantically I ran up the stairs only to find the front door of our condo apartment wide open, and who was outside in 3 inches of snow with his “footie jammies” on, my son? Not to mention that he had almost every accessory from the living room outside in the snow with him. When I got upstairs to the living room he was just exiting the house with the pillows from the sofa. I tell you, I had so many mixed emotions that day ranging from that of joy to devastation to one of disappointment. Joyous because he was safe and right in front of our door, devastated because once again my husband had not carefully closed and locked the door, and disappointed because I could not believe that none of my neighbors noticed my son outside in the winter snow playing with all the belongings from my living room! Nonetheless, I laughed about it much later on because I was so amused that my child took all those items out by him self and was having a good time! He was indeed a busy body and now at 16 he’s still a busy body!
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8-08-2008 @ 10:08PM
kaye said...When my children was eight month, three,nine and twelve I came down the stairs with a chair in my hand so I didn't notice that the baby had laid his bottle on the stairs .I step right on it and boom down I went. there was also a freezer right at the bottom .Well we all know what happen next .My foot was caught between the back of the stair and the chair locked by the freezer which I could not move and was in pain pain pain. no one was home but me and the two little one(the bigger kids was on the next street at a block club party for the kids.) I had to send my three year old out into the world by himself to find his bother or sister and bring them back to free me. I was so scared but he came back with both and I went to see a doctor my ankle was broke in two places now I can laugh about but back then I couldn't.and I can teased the the baby now because he broke his playing football and I say payback
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8-08-2008 @ 10:17PM
lewis said...not only could i imagine it,i did it. when i was three years old i rode my tricycle about a mile to the px on chanutte air force base.i also remember that was one of the times i did not have to wait untill my father got home,my mother had a fiberglasss kitchen spoon that she wore my little butt out with,i also remember her carying me off the ground in one hand and my tricycle in the other.
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8-08-2008 @ 10:18PM
cas said...My father in law went downstairs at 2:30 am to get some water and noticed all the lights on. He heard some noises in the garage and went to investigate. My 3 1/2 yr old was strapped into his carseat screaming. He had decided to raid the fridge at 2 am while we were at my inlaws house and had strapped himself in and couldn't get out. When my father in law got to him all my son could say was "Grandpa thank you for saving me!" My father in law thought my husband and I had gotten upset and strapped him in the garage to get rid of him! Turns out Nicky wanted us and that proved we didn't do this. Next day we got new locks for all the doors he knew how to open.
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8-08-2008 @ 10:27PM
JaineF said...MY mother had her hands full with me. I'm 72 and when I was about 4, I decided to take my doll for a walk. After about 1/2 mi, I thought going to the movie was a good idea -- about 1 mile from home. After I went into the theater (the ticket guy thought I was with the people near me). I sat in the show for some minutes, then went outside and GOT ON A STREETCAR (again, with some people who were waiting at the stop). I was a good 5 miles from that point when another rider noticed I was alone. The streetcar stopped, the driver carried me into the Cleveland Hts Police Station which was on the route. My distraught mother came to get me (I knew my phone number) and found me charming all the police with my wit and smiles. In the car on the way homer,I could not imagine why she was so mad at me. I had a terrific time.
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8-08-2008 @ 10:25PM
GRACE said...My son is a sleepwalker. When he was about 8 we were at an all-inclusive resort in the Carribean and he slept walked to the dining room at 1;00 am during a wind/thunder/lightening storm. I woke up when I heard knocking on the door and became alarmed... then I heard Mommy and ran and opened the door. We now barracade the door when we are on vacation! It scared the stuffing out of all of us. My son claims he woke up at eh dining area and people started laughing at him and he ran all the way back (2-3 blocks) and up to our second story room. Too scary!
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8-08-2008 @ 10:25PM
Boop said...RE: lewis's post.........................Hahaha .........The one armed carry....
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8-08-2008 @ 10:55PM
Anne said...So many negligent parents here. I make sure there's no way in hell my kids could get out, and it's a real shame the rest of you don't, too.
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8-08-2008 @ 10:36PM
Mrs fnech said...We have an alarm systme when ever the doors open or a glass break detects movement the alarm gose off it would wake the hole house and the two others next to it. Well worth the money.
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8-08-2008 @ 10:34PM
wanda cottrell said...My 3 year old granddaughter went out tje dog door before I got up. Her 6 year old sister who was to big to fit thru door told on her
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8-08-2008 @ 10:43PM
Chadwick said...Mine did not run away, but one afternoon and the snow was on the ground she decided to go to our neighbors in her bathing suit. Some thingss are funny and kids do the darndest things.
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8-08-2008 @ 10:45PM
Brenda said...My two sons got up early the morning AFTER halloween and went trick or treating. They were 5 and 7 yrs. old. I was shocked and embarassed and took them to the neighbors to apologize, all my neighbors said they thought it was cute and had a good laugh about it. We had only been living in the neighborhood for about 2 months, and hardly knew anyone. After that, we made our home like a fortress, they never got out again.
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8-08-2008 @ 10:46PM
lblair65 said...are you kidding??????? lol my 7 yr old will barely let me go to the bathroom by myself! i suppose in light of this story his attachment to me could be viewed as a good thing huh? wow....
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8-08-2008 @ 11:41PM
oleealeman said...I am thankful that your situation worked out the way it did. It was a very tragic situation here in the town where I live. A 3 y/o boy got out of his Mom's apt at about 3-4am a few months ago, he walked about a 1/2 mile onto a busy street, it was very foggy morning and the truck driver didn't see the little guy! He was dead at the scene. Please, dear ones, make sure your doors are secured if you have small children!
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8-09-2008 @ 10:18AM
RW Maule said...Some years ago we lived next door to a family with a lively, nay overly lively, young boy. He frequently came to our house just to be here, sometimes making me think he was Denis the Menace and I was Mr. Mitchel, especially on the day that he used my leather briefcase as a trampoline. One day, when he was four or five, he came later than usual and stayed and stayed as we watched television. At about 9:00 I telephoned his Dad and asked if it were not time for the boy to go home. He assured me that the boy had been in bed for a long time and he had been sitting there in the living room adjacent to the bedroom door. I finally persuaded him to take a peek in the bedroom - he finally agreed that his son was indeed at our house. His Dad thinks he must have dozed off, the boy seizing the moment to walk right by him and out a more or less emergency exit on a deck and over to see us. The Dad still does not know how he managed this little trick.
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8-08-2008 @ 10:56PM
Me Too said...I know exactly how this kid feel. I did the same thing when I was around that age (probably 4) in California. I went on a candy run, but I didn't think to get the money. I did dress my brother and myself in a light jacket since it would be cool near the mountains occassionally. My brother had to be around 2 or 3. I unlocked the door and we left out and I closed the door behind us. We crossed highway traffic with some teenagers as we knew not to cross alone and went to the candy store to get toys and candy. My mom was out shopping with her mother and my stepdad fell asleep on the couch (a military man in which my mom told not to fall asleep on us as kids). My mom called home to check with her husband about our well-being in which he told her he had to call her back. He of course ended up calling the police who spotted us coming back from the candy store (with candy and toys) who took us home. Needless to say, we got a small spanking and he made us eat our vegetables for dinner. I think all we had was vegetables to eat that night (and I do believe I was crying about my dinner). My mom finally made it back home and had to tell my stepdad that he couldn't be mad at us as children as he was the one who fell asleep on us. Although, they all were astonished that we were capable of leaving the house without a second thought.
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8-08-2008 @ 11:00PM
Brenda said...I have two little roamers, they were 5 and 7 years old at the time. They got up, got redressed in their costumes the day AFTER halloween, went to several of our neighbors to trick or treat. I wasn't even aware of this til I heard them coming back in from their adventure. When I realized they were coming IN, I asked where they had been. When I saw the candy, I got so upset I took them to the neighbors and made them apologize. The neighbors laughed and said they thought it was cute and that it had made their day. My husband fixed all doors and sliding glass doors so they could not get out without one of us with them.
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8-09-2008 @ 5:57AM
Nicole said...We just moved into a new apartment when my older daughter was 15 months old , and I had just had my younger daughter than 2 weeks old , my older daughter got out of bed , unlocked the door , went down the stairs ( I didn't know that she could unlock a door , or climb stairs yet ) and out into the street at 6 am ... My neightbors didn't know us yet , so they had no idea who this child was , and ofcourse called the police . I woke up with a strange feeling out of nowhere , and realised she was gone , I went down stairs , and got there before the police did , thank god ... Anyways , That same day we insalled an alarm system , a gate on the outside of the door , a metal latch on the door , and a door knob cover .... That was the scariest thing to ever happen to me , and I felt like the worst mother ever , but after reading this , I feel better , it apparently has happend to alot of people ... She is almost`2 now , and nothing has happened since ...
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8-08-2008 @ 11:01PM
nettio45 said...The first time our son escaped, he was not quite 2. He walked to our 7-11 three blocks away for an "urpee". I was frantic. Luckily some people who lived next door saw him almost running alone, followed him into the store, took him into their house and called the police. I got to the store and the neighboring house before the police arrived. After other attempts to escape, we put chain locks on the doors, and a security device that we step on to put into the floor on our sliding doors. Luckily, that not quite 2 year old is now 20. We all lived through many escapades with him. He was and is still very adventurous!!!!
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