Chinese grandfather collects wrong child from kindergarten, takes him for injection
Staff oblivious to mix-up but WeChat posts lead to the ‘real’ grandson’s father recognising the old man from camera footage of him leaving with the boy
A grandfather in southwestern China picked up the wrong boy at his grandson’s kindergarten and even took the child for an injection before his blunder was pointed out, according to reports.
The elderly man was seen on security camera footage guiding the boy – his grandson’s classmate – from their classroom and out of the gate on Friday in Guiyang in Guizhou province, news portal Hangzhou.com.cn reported on Tuesday.
The incident left kindergarten staff in a panic after the mother of the collected child, identified only by his first name Hongyu, arrived at the preschool but failed to locate her six-year-old. Chinese children start school at the age of six or seven.
Parents and teachers circulated posts on messaging app WeChat, sharing the security camera footage and appealing for help to track down the boy.
It took four hours before a parent in a WeChat group identified the elderly man as his father and realised that he must have taken the wrong child home.
The man was not familiar with his own grandson because he had just moved to the city from the outskirts, Jxnews.com reported, adding that he is also partially deaf.