Parents arrive home to realize they left their toddler at a stopover

Malaysia — Losing sight of one’s child in a public place, even for a few minutes, is enough to get a parent’s heart racing in panic. For a couple in Melaka, their nightmare came true when they came home and realized they left their 3-year-old son at a stopover in Melaka.

The mom named Ika (36) shared her anxious experience in a report by Harian Metro.

“The moment I noticed that our son wasn’t in the car, I felt like my life was knocked out of me, my body was numb,” the mom of seven said.

The family was on a drive from Kuala Lumpur to Melaka. They stopped over at R&R Ayer Keroh at around 7:30 PM for Maghrib prayers. The mom and dad took turns eating so they could properly look after and monitor their children.

Iza said that her children were playing and running around while she was eating, so she asked her husband to take them to the nearby playground. Two of her children got into a small fight and started crying.

“It made the situation a bit hectic.”

She called back her husband and children after she finished eating. They went back to their car, but they did not notice that their sixth child, a three-year-old boy, was still sitting on the slide at the playground.

During the 30-kilometre drive home, Ika thought she heard her son’s voice in the car, so she did not bother to check.

The family arrived at their home in Ayer Molek at around 10pm, and that was when they found out they made a huge mistake.

Despite the tense situation, Iza said her husband was “very calm.” The husband called his friend to go look for the toddler in R&R Ayer Keroh.

The parents immediately drove back to the R&R. They learned that the boy was taken to the Alor Gajah Police Headquarters. When they got there at around 11pm, the parents were relieved to see their son safe.

“At that moment, only Allah knows how grateful I was because our son was taken care of by a good person while he was waiting for us.”/TISG