Cochrane RCMP remind parents and caregivers to use caution when dropping off young children for school.

Corporal Troy Savinkoff says they received a call this morning (April 13) at 9:26 am after a community member located a young 5 year old girl wandering a parking lot stripmall crying and upset.

"Through questioning we learned the girl had been dropped off at a school and unfortunately the school had not open with the collisions and such forth, they were late coming in, and unable to greet the girl and (the parent) thusly left without anyone there to greet the girl."

RCMP on arrival were able to quickly get hold of the school staff who located the parent who then returned to pick up her child.

Cpl. Savinkoff says no charges are pending or forthcoming; ways to avoid this type of situation in the future were discussed with both parent and school authority.

To avoid an incident like this happening, Cpl. Savinkoff reminds parents to keep eyes on their young child until they successfully enter a preschool, kindergarten, or even lower grades at grade school.

"You never know what kind of situations might come up."

Coming across young children walking to and from school is not uncommon, states Savinkoff, but when lost it becomes very difficult for a child to articulate their name, number, and address.

"A card with their name, phone number, and address would be helpful inside their backpack."

Corporal Savinkoff reminds social media ninjas to be kind when it comes to cases like this.

"Social media sometimes has the ability for people to comment on situations they don't know everything about. With every single thing that happens around there is always more than just what the surface is and sometimes there's reasons why things happen; so people need to be tepid."