A dad has divided opinions after revealing how he tricked his school into thinking she'd gone missing to prove a point. He explained how he dropped his seven-year-old daughter off with a teacher at before walking his younger son over to his pre-kindergarten in another building.

But when he returned to his car, he saw his daughter standing there in tears, hearing how she tripped over in her classroom and broke her favourite water bottle. Taking to , he said: "I was running late for work so I just took her to my mum's. I debated calling the school but assumed they'd call me and decided to not be any later to work.

"They didn't call me. My daughter was fine. She had tripped, hurt herself, broke a bottle that means a lot to her. She gets very attached to items. She wanted comforting and no one was around so she came to find me." The dad says his daughter has been known to "elope and wander" - and she is currently waiting on an assessment for autism.

When collecting his son at the end of the school day, the man decided to approach his daughter's teacher to ask why she never called. But upon seeing him, the teacher "bolted" into the classroom in a panic. He added: "When the teacher saw me she bolted back inside and disappeared. I decided to head to main office instead. As soon as I got there the teacher rushed into an explanation of not realizing my daughter was supposed to be in today. Basic guilty stuff.

"I let her ramble and then explained where she was. The principal was called who essentially told me it was incredibly dangerous for me to not call her in and to let her staff worry. I think its unprofessional for them to not call home if a child just disappears.

"I handed her off to a member of staff so at least one person knew she was there. Anything could have happened to her - she's little and was walking out in front of cars. They have decided we need to have a meeting, I agree. Neither kid has been to school today. I'm probably going to switch their school."

Wanting to know whether he's in the wrong, he spoke to his brother, who works as a teacher, but was disappointed by what he said. He added: "My brother said I was in the wrong - teachers make mistakes, the member of staff probably saw me with her and that's why she didn't tell anyone. I don't feel like I was but I can see his point of view."

Commenting on his post, one user said: "You should have notified the school when you picked her up. Your daughter was standing by your car, no school employee to observe her or chaperone her. From her story it isn't obvious that the teachers saw her in class at all that day and it seems you are not 'handing her over' to a teacher, so why would you assume the teacher will know she is supposed to be at school or not?

"It is very unclear if the teachers knew she was there and she disappeared and they were looking for her, or that they didn't know she was there at all and assumed she is not supposed to be there for the day." Another user added: " What if some stranger had taken her instead? What was 'incredibly dangerous' is not paying attention to the whereabouts of the children entrusted to your custody for the day."

A third user said: "As a teacher, part of my responsibility is keeping track of the students under my charge. That’s why they need my permission to leave the room to use the restroom, because when they are my responsibility I must know their location at all times. And if I don’t know the location of someone whose location I should be aware of, my first call is to the main office, who will either find the child or inform the parents. If your daughter was marked 'present' on an attendance form but was not in school, that’s essentially the falsification of a legal document."

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