These tips come from veteran RVer and member of the RVBasics.com Discussion Group, Jim Foreman:

I saw on the news where they found the 5 year old boy who wandered away from a state park in Oregon and became lost. Many of these situations could be prevented if parents taught their kids a few basics about how to “find” themselves.

All kids love to play hide and go seek but the game can be turned around to play how to find yourself. I can look back and see that when my dad was playing games of how to find my way somewhere on the ranch, he was also teaching me how to find my way back. Even though my cousin and I wandered all over the ranch and into creeks and canyons around it, we always knew where we were going and how to find our way back home. I can’t recall ever feeling lost.

If you are going anyplace where kids might wander away, Give all of them whistles and tell them to always blow it three times if they need help. First, that’s the universal signal for help but it sounds nothing like any bird or animal except for a mocking bird and they never give their calls three times in succession. The other thing about blowing it three times, you hear it the first time, you identify it the second and can home in on the direction the third time.

Just as kids are taught that if lost in a city, look for a policeman; if you are lost in the woods, look for a trail and stay on it. Trails are usually always made by people and it leads to someplace better than where you are. If the trail becomes hard to follow, turn around and go the other way. The other thing to teach them is to stop and listen. If they hear a noise not made by a bird or animal, go toward it.