A woman called police on Sunday morning after spotting a child sleeping in front of a kindergarten entrance at 05:20 a.m. (0420 UTC/GMT) in Unna, which is located on the outskirts of the western city of Dortmund.
Officers who arrived to pick the child up discovered that the four-year-old girl had left her parents’ home on her own initiative, with the goal of being the first to arrive at her kindergarten.
Girl slept out in cold conditions
After finding out the kindergarten was closed, the girl fell asleep in front of its entrance.
The weather in the Unna area that night was six degrees centigrade with rain. It was also one of the longest nights of the year.
According to a statement on the Unna Police’s Facebook page, the parents were then woken up by the officers who brought their daughter back home.
The parents — who were “baffled” by the officers’ visit, according to police — had not noticed their child being missing.
Users replying to local broadcaster WDR’s Facebook post about the story said they remember having similar experiences as children.
“Sounds familiar to me,” said one user.
“I remember going to school alone at 06:00 in the morning as a child. My father then dropped by to bring me the bag I had forgotten to take with me,” commented another.
The one comment everyone seemed to agree on: “Thankfully it all went well. Still, very sweet!”
ftm/kb (dpa, DW sources)
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