Runaway Child

Every night after we put the kids in their room for bed they play with each other for an hour or two before falling asleep. Usually, during that time, I am in the room next to them on the computer. Last night, at about 9:15 p.m., Elliott knocks on the office door and when I answer it he says, "Graeden went outside."



So I get my shoes on and go outside to find him. I walk around the entire house and he's not there so I assume Elliott just thought he went out but he was really hiding or something. So I go back in the house and do a thorough search for him with no success. Now I start to worry a bit. I get my jacket on and go to the front of the house to look down the street both ways. Not there.

I walk a block down the street and look down the crossing street. There he is about three blocks away! He has crossed one of the busiest streets in the town of Snohomish and is about two blocks from getting to his good friends house (his destination). So I ran to him and picked him up and started carrying him back to the house. I wasn't really sure how to react but I'm glad I wasn't screaming like a crazy man because, as I got close to home, a cop showed up and said that somebody saw him walking across the street by himself and called the police.



After he asked a few questions; relationship to child, name, address, etc. he let us go. So Graeden is grounded today. He didn't get to go out while we pressure washed the house. And he doesn't get to go out with Elliott, Jett, and me later tonight. If this was the first time he'd ever run away I would think that was sufficient punishment, but it's the third time and the second time a police officer was called. Any tips for helping him understand the danger of running away and crossing busy streets on his own would be appreciated. By the way...he's only four.