TikTokers are lovin’ a story about a toddler who took himself on a field trip to McDonald’s.
In a now-viral video, Marissa Phiffer, who is mom of 3-year-old twins, Aiden and Aleiya, shares a story about a family nap that took a scary turn.
“I was sleeping on the floor right next to their cribs,” Phiffer, 23, tells TODAY.com. What could go wrong? Turns out, a lot. When Phiffer woke up, Aiden was gone — and so were his shoes.
“He was not in the house. He was not in the basement. He was not in the front yard or the backyard,” Phiffer says in her TikTok clip. At this point she was starting to panic. Where could Aiden be?
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With shaking hands, Phiffer dialed 911 to report a missing child.
“I really started to get nervous when he wasn’t in our neighbor’s yard. I thought that’s where I’d find him. They have a bunch of rocks and he likes to line them up and play with them,” Phiffer shares.
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Phiffer says the police arrived in “two seconds,” and showed her a photograph. She exhaled. It was Aiden and he was safe and sound at a McDonald’s across the street from their Wisconsin home.
According to Phiffer, a Good Samaritan alerted authorities to a child, who was wandering by himself. Though the restaurant is only 0.4 miles from Phiffer’s residence, she drove there with Aiden’s sister.
“We run in, and he goes, ‘Hi, Mom!’”
Phiffer was too relieved to be angry.
When Phiffer asked Aiden why he did it, she says the little boy replied, "I was hungry."
“I almost bought him a Happy Meal, but I was embarrassed,” she says. “I just wanted to get out of there.”
Aiden is a big fan of McDonald’s, and will wake up from a deep slumber when his mom pulls up to a drive-thru window. He can just sense where they are.
"Fries, nuggets and apple slices — he'd eat that every day," she says. “But that was actually his first time going to the PlayLand there.”
Phiffer has since installed child proof safety locks and latches on the doors so that it won’t happen again.
Meanwhile, comments continue to pour in on Phiffer’s video. And it turns out she’s in good company.
“Happened to me with my oldest. Now I just don’t sleep lol," one person wrote.
Added another,”My son found a penny and walk to the store when he was 2 yrs old scared the hell out of me too lol.”
This article first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
