The Whistle
My Father, the legend that he is, trained myself and sibling into responding to a whistle (him whistling not an actual whistle).

When he whistled in a particular manner we'd stop what we were doing to locate parents. This could be in a shop/park/theme park/leisure centre etc. We didn't really think this was strange for the majority of our childhood.

It wasn't until we went on a family outing, sibling and I were in our 20's at the time, we'd strolled off to grab a beer/smoke a fag/look in the pond (delete as appropriate), father whistled and like a pair of dogs we stood up straight, ears pricked and set off in the direction of the whistle. A number of chavlike creatures were huddled together and made some "really witty" remarks as we passed. Glancing at each other we jointly realised, with some humiliation, that we had been trained like dogs! Poor father received a severe telling off and threat of no further grandchildren.

Length - still trying?
(GsterMum, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 13:21, 2 replies)

I guess I can't post this as an entry in its own right now ...
My family has a family whistle, passed down for some generations now, and it's been really useful.

As a child I was allowed to wander away from my parents (and wasn't upset that my parents had moved on if something in a shop caught my eye) because we knew we could find each other easily.

As a teenager it meant I could be summoned without having my name being bellowed (slightly less embarassing).

As an adult I've even taught the wife it now, and it is still useful in all sorts of situation.
(phyphor, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 13:46, closed)

^same with my family
My father also had a special summoning whistle, which was a snippet of Bach. He died five years ago, and it was a real jolt when I heard my brother use it on his kids recently. Instant Dad recall!
(Ja For Sure, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 15:14, closed)