COLUMBUS, Ohio — How-to videos on TikTok vary from ‘vegan dessert recipes’ to ‘salsa dancing for beginners.’

There's even a video on how to find a lost child, and it helped an Ohio mom successfully navigate through one terrifying experience.

What You Need To Know

  • Krista Piper Grundey lost her young daughter during a recent trip to a Columbus museum
  • She remembered watching a random TikTok video on "how to find a lost child."
  • Piper Grundey yelled out a description of her daughter and what the young girl was wearing, instead of continually calling out the girl's name
  • The Ohio mom is now alerting other parents about the helpful advice she received 

Krista Piper Grundey is mom to two kids Wyatt, 6, and Lily, 3.

Recently, she took her children to a science museum in Columbus.

“They have tons of exhibits,” said Piper Grundey. “There’s this really big play area. It has tons of fun stuff that the kids love.”

Piper Grundey said Wyatt and a friend were playing at an exhibit and Lily was right in front of her. The mom of two said she was talking with another parent when suddenly Lily was gone.

“So I got up and started looking… she wasn’t there. So, I thought maybe she went down to the other area,” said Piper Grundey.

But Lily wasn’t in the other area, either.

“That’s when I started freaking out,” said Piper Grundey, who then began calling out her daughter’s name.

“I called out ‘Lily’ twice,” she said, but Lily was still nowhere to be found.

That’s when, she said, a lightbulb went off in her head. Piper Grundey remembered a video she saw on TikTok.

“Instead of saying the kid’s name, a lady had yelled out the [child’s] description. So that’s when I started saying: ‘little girl, pink shirt, Minnie Mouse,” Piper Grundey said. “I remember a guy to my left looking like I was crazy.”

Despite the strange looks from other museum-goers, Piper Grundey continued to yell her daughter’s description: “little girl, pink shirt, Minnie Mouse.” After a few times, other parents caught on.

“I could hear parents in the background repeating: ‘little girl, pink shirt, Minnie Mouse’” she said.

Minutes later, thanks to that chant, her daughter, Lily, was found safe.

The entire ordeal may not have lasted very long, but Piper Grundey said, “it felt like an eternity.”

It’s a story that started as a nightmare, but ended with a grateful sigh of relief, all thanks to one random video.

“I definitely didn’t think that TikTok would give me great parental advice,” said Piper Grundey, who shared her story on TikTok to alert parents of the helpful advice she received.