how

I went to the mall yesterday to pick up a few things that i wanted and as I entered the mall a family came in at the same time, you know father in jeans and a t shirt, children dressed like average kids and mom looking like casper the black ghost. I have wondered about this for awhile and I finally got the answer. As I entered there was a bit of a clusterfuck in the entry and one of the daughters of the family in front of me got turned around. She regained her composure (she was about 5) and walked off following the draped black form that walked away. The only issue was it was not her mom. her mother had gone the other direction with her siblings and father. I watched in amazement as the kid got further and further from her family until it dawned on her that her siblings were not there. she looked around and then ran to her father who was across the mall. Her parents had noticed that she was gone so it wasn't like they were bad parents but it stuck me that this sort of thing must happen all the time here. After all there are no visual clues to go on when every woman is covered in her entirety. I wonder how many children get lost like this, how many husbands walk up to the wrong wife at a supermarket how many miscommunications are caused by this coverage?