Who needs a toddler leash when this genius mom hack is way more fun?

We’ve so been there —you turn to inspect how ripe watermelon is, turn back, and your kid is halfway across the grocery store. Or hiding under a fruit stand. Really, you aren’t sure. You aren’t a bad mom, just a regular mom trying to do your errands. 

Some turn to toddler leashes, some strap their kids in carts or strollers or carriers or wagons. But the Goddard family is going viral for an Instagram post with a much more innovative—and frankly, fun—parenting hack. It’s quite simple and costs less than a dollar. 

“Mom hack — attach a balloon to your baby/toddler to easily spot them,” they post. In the video, you see a turquoise balloon bobbing behind large displays, eliminating the need to panic if your child has moved just a few feet away but is hidden from your view. “One of the employees at Kroger saw Nelio and came back with that helium balloon for him! Such a sweet gesture! By the way, one employee told me that they give out balloons to little kids and cookies to bigger ones,” she wrote.

Then, things get a bit funnier. As she’s carrying her toddler later in the video, her partner jokes that it’s a great way to find your toddler and wife too, sharing his “dad hack.” We see the balloon floating higher than the shelves as he looks for her shopping in another aisle.

Joking aside, she clarifies that her kid isn’t running amok far away from her, but that rather it keeps things fun and easy during shopping: “Not that I would ever let my kid be out of my sight, but it was so adorable seeing him run around with that balloon. It was so easy to spot him, impossible to lose him, and we had so much fun!”

Parents were all about the easy trick to make shopping a bit less stressful. Commenters responded to the video with almost 36,000 likes and close to 40,000 shares. But others thought they had better ideas, like one who wrote, “Here’s a great mom hack, put your kid in the cart, or stroller, and buckle them in.” Another wrote “Get a toddler leash. Still don’t want my kid free roaming. People are too quick to snatch them but NOT if they are attached to your wrist.”

Another joked, “Nah that gives him too much space to rip things off the shelves.” While some commented about their perceived risk of sex trafficking, and another on strangulation risk, one mom of the year was all about the ingenuity — “Do whatever you need to do legally allowed. No judgments here.”

If your child does happen to escape the controversial toddler leash, or wanders off unexpectedly with or without their balloon, another mom taught us what to do through her own viral hack. Don’t shout for Johnny, shout that you are looking for your missing kid! With a yellow shirt! After all, a calm mom without a missing kid could be yelling for Johnny, but a mom yelling about her missing kid and giving specific descriptors sounds all the alarms. 

Or, if all this is just too much, stick with drive-through groceries or delivery service. That may as well be a mom hack, right?