Our family whistle is like this:

"So help me gawd if you move that cart ONE.MORE.INCH..."

Heh. We do
"MARCO!"
"POLO!"
When I was little, my dad would snap his fingers so I could find him.
To each their own.

Yea, I either just yell out "BIP??" or call him on the cell. The other day I was at the grocery and N.O. Tween & Boy decided that they wanted to be independant with the grocery cart and go on a Sav-Nothing adventure. 20 minutes later with my arms full of items, I was about to yell out something quite else for them!

Whistling in my family is how we call the children. Well, not me, but only b/c I can't whistle. My entire family does it. A child can be on the other side of a field and mom or dad will whistle and the child turns around sees them and comes running. Now I can't say that it has ever been done in a store before! LOL

I whistle when I want to call the dog. That's it. The kids rarely need to be let out to "do their business" so no whistling at them. Screaming at the top of my lungs is not out of the quesiton, however.

One time my when I was a teenager, my dad walked by a girl and patted her on the behind and said "come on baby" Needless to say he was slightly embarrassed since it wasn't me. Now I just yell out my children's name until they answer. There will be no butt patting in this family anymore!

Your dad patted you on the ass when you were a teenager?!?!?

*whistles*

I once tried whistling, but the child retorted: "I am NOT a dog!"

So now I just listen for the sound of a crash, followed by a child bellowing "Jeezus CHRIST!"

Our kids don't have a very good stealth mode, unlike Daddy who is usually trying to manage an escape of some kind.

Our family does a sound that resembles a whistle, but we "Bee-ah-weeet." Very effective. Sometimes embarrassing, but effective.

I can't whistle. we usually phone each other, only to find the other is right behind.

We do the "I'm going over to this section, come over when you are ready"

I also had that whistle thing with my mother and my father when I was little. We used to whistle when we wanted to find out where the other one was.

My grandfather had the "whistle" thing for his kids. And it's never left any of them. It's funny to see my middle aged aunts and uncles turn on their heels and automatically start walking towards him when he does that now *chuckle*

Um, yeah, we had a whistle when I was a kid. It was really useful, I can't think why I didn't try to use it with my kids.

We usually just call each other on the cell. Or set a time to meet at the front. But usually husband has to call me, I always take way longer. Can't help it, it is Target after all!

omg our family does the same thing. We do a two toned whistle, sorta like "tweee tooo" back and forth till we find each other. I thought we were the only weirdos.

i'll whistle places to get my husbands attention... he usually wanders off with the boy and will be looking right at me but not seeing me when they come back... so i whistle, it gets him out of his little daze and he finds his way back to me.

Originally, I read this post at work today and I laughed so hard that my co-workers insisted I tell them what was so funny. I wanted to comment earlier, but not while they were watching.

Even my husband found this hilarious, because once we were at Fleet Farm (a hardware store so-to-speak) and a woman in her late 50's was yelling down the aisles "Heeeeeeeennnnn-reeee" with this shrill whiporwhill kind of voice. I started laughing and Doug was choking so hard he had to turn away.

My grandma and her ladies did the coyote hoooowwwwlllll

lol
I just go through the aisles yelling "mom!" or "dad!" or sometimes their first names if too many other parents turn around. They eventually respond with WHAT?? Works well enough.

Sadly enough, I keep trying to lose my family in the department store...but they keep finding me. DAMN GPS!!!!

If we're in a store, I just wait for Don to find me. The kids are not kids any more and they can keep track of themselves.

We have a family whistle. I have a highpitch but soft whistle that is pretty easily overlooked (underheard) by most of the customers, except for those (my family) it is intended for. My husband has a slightly lower-pitch quick whistle he responds with. We both feel it's better than hollering in the store.

I always tried to lose my kids at Target, but when they caught on they would yell, "Mrs. Sarcasmom" because if they yelled "Mom" everyone turned around.

LOL!!! I haven't laughed so hard at comments ever!!
I married into a family w/ a whistle, but I didn't know it was as common as all these bloggers attest it to be. I think it's kinda cool, and yes, nicer than yelling.