Alfie Aldridge, Toddler, Flees First Day Of Preschool, Walks All The Way Home (POLL)

After enduring only a few hours of his first day of preschool, 3-year-old Alfie Aldridge of Surrey, England decided he had had enough, the Sun reported.

The tricky toddler ditched his teachers, scaled a 3-foot-tall wall, crossed a busy street, and eventually made it to his front door.

When Alfie's mother, 27-year-old Samantha Aldridge, opened the door, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, the Daily Mail reported.

"When I opened the door and saw Alfie standing there I didn't know what to think. Thankfully I was home. It makes me feel sick to think what could have happened."

When she confronted school officials on her son's break out, the report says they hadn't even noticed he had been missing.

According to the Surrey Commet, Alridge said that she had only done the walk with Alfie twice, and that while the incident proves his cleverness, she was still "hysterical" when he knocked on the door.

Despite an apology from the head teacher and the promise of a full investigation, the mother of four intends to send the toddler to a different school after she inspects their security precautions.

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Comments

[seterk11]

06:10 AM on 10/23/2011

School was totally at fault..but still a funny story. Kid's name should be Stewie.

[beachgirl61]

05:53 PM on 10/22/2011

Smart kid, but oh boy is going to be handful. School should've been more watchful but mom needs to drive it home that he is not to walk off and wander alone.

[ozymandias13]

01:34 AM on 10/21/2011

I predict this is not the last time Alfie will make a break for freedom. The new school needs to be especially on their toes, since it is usually not possible to break this kind of toddler from getting out when they want to! I would bet he has performed similar antics before...therefor the family also has to share the responsibility for not warning the parents.

[Lori Ellen]

06:52 PM on 10/20/2011

I do remember running out a side door of a daycare center when I was 3 years old. I ran out and started running towards the street through the playground...this was many years ago...none the less the staff noticed I was missing and chased me and caught me before I reached the street. I was quite the handful at that age. Thank goodness for an alert staff.

[Lori Ellen]

06:39 PM on 10/20/2011

My 3 year granddaughter attends preschool here in Southern California. She is highly intelligent but has a speech delay...she attends class 3 1/2 hours per day 5 days per week. Twice each week a speech therapist comes to her class to give her speech therapy. She is learning to write and read. She is also learning her socialization skills. I feel this is very necessary. I do get nervous with her taking a bus to and from school...but with gas prices as high as they are we can't drive her back and forth.

[FunctionOfTheCrisp]

06:08 PM on 10/20/2011

Kid, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Wait until grade 1, where they make you memorize math.

[BabsBP]

12:20 PM on 10/20/2011

My daughter was in second grade, seven not three. Her teacher (Catholic school) was handing out demerit points to every kid in the class the first few weeks of school for every small thing she could. My daughter, who was and still is a good kid, was so depressed and determined to reach me so I could help her with her teacher, that she went to the bathroom and then walked out an open door. She walked half a mile through an urban neighborhood, crossed busy intersections, and realized it was too far to make it home. Outside the adult school, she appoached two women (remembering my instruction that if you are lost look for a police officer first and a mommy type woman second) and asked them to help her. Meanwhile her school, was driving around looking for her, did not call the police, and only called me after I had been contacted by the adult school as to what happened.

Fast forward: my daughter is now in fourth grade. She is in a public charter, international bacculaureate program. She is earning straight A's. She has to follow a code of conduct, which she does perfectly, without demerit points being given to any student. And she is happy -- even on the hard days. Sometimes little kids know faster than their parents what an environment is really like.

[1differentdrummer]

11:40 AM on 10/20/2011

What's it all about, Alfie?

[Christina Mata]

11:34 AM on 10/20/2011

When I was in school, there was NO WAY anyone was leaving. Or coming in, for that matter. That place was locked down like a prison.

[Hobsonschoice]

10:37 AM on 10/20/2011

A friend of mine has a very intelligent son, who, at the tender age of 4, unlocked the gate of a fence in his yard, took his 3-year-old sister, and walked eight blocks to the library as his mother nursed his baby sister. Frankie crossed eight busy streets and walked over a bridge, hand in hand with his little sister, and entered the library, where no one noticed that there was no parent with them. The library staff only became concerned when he tried to check out books.... The following fall, Frankie decided to check out of HIS preschool, and only the alert office secretary noticed him crossing the parking lot after he slipped out the back door during a trip to the bathroom. It's a rare child who does things like this; I'm not sure that the preschool is at fault when their student/teacher ratios are met and all normal security measures are taken.

[discordany]

12:17 PM on 10/20/2011

I'd still argue that the school is very much at fault - not because he got out (you can't account for everything that *could* happen, as hard as you may try. If all the safety measures were taken and he still got out, then they didn't do anything wrong, perse). HOWEVER, they are at fault for not noticing that they were a child short and trying to find him/notifying his mother. After having worked in a child-care setting, frequent head-counts are a MUST. Yes, we've had a "lost" child (only one, and it turned out that her parents took her home without signing her out/ telling us), but we noticed immediately, began a search, and called her parents. We continued to search until they got home and answered the phone, at which point we realized she was ok.
The issue here, to me, isn't that he got out. Shit happens. It's the total lack of response at him getting out that is troublesome.

[BHD]

09:58 AM on 10/20/2011

I'm a bit disappointed that none of the adults he walked past on the street at least ASKED if he needed help, I don't know, CROSSING THE STREET?!?! Lord, I hope I'm never that zoned out that I'd NOT notice a 3 year old walking alone.

[catcancook]

09:09 AM on 10/20/2011

My son was plucky like this and before I could get back to my car in the parking lot after dropping him off at preschool..he was behind me! They had to lock all the doors because of he was an escape artist. He finally decided he liked the pre-school and enjoyed his time there once he found friends.

[Yam716]

01:07 PM on 10/21/2011

LOL! Great story! I love how he decided he like Pre-School, so he stayed :)

[catcancook]

02:28 PM on 10/21/2011

He did the same thing in K..and once I was driving off and saw him running after my car in the rear view! His teacher never noticed he slipped out the building because she had 24 students. I had to volunteer every day so he would stay there. I actually had a great time tho. He's in college now...and so independent it's hard to get him to come home. LOL

[wakohnen]

05:44 AM on 10/20/2011

Any school that fails the test of a 3 year old is in no way ready for a mass break out.....or much else for that matter. Glad that Alfie made it home safe...smart kid....but being smart could have turned out badly in this instance.

[white53duk]

04:15 AM on 10/20/2011

Wow ! What a flash-back. When I was 5, on my first day of pre-school, my mother walked me up the block to the Kindergarten I would be going to. Because she had 4 other children to "get off to school", plus 2 more too young to go yet, and it was a "safe neighborhood" (circa 1958) she had gotten me there early, and left me on the steps saying, "They'll be here shortly. Just wait." then left. You betcha ! Not 5 minutes after she left I was off like a shot, ran down the block, and TRIED to convince her that school must have been cancelled. This time, to my great embarrasment (as much as a 5 year old could feel), I was led back to school, by the hand, and given, in person, to the Teacher. Worst day of my young life !

[MSROADKILL612]

02:57 AM on 10/20/2011

My 20 yr old pays her way through college adjudicating debating at schools (among other things).

Some dopey "initiative" now mandates prison like fences around hi schools - needed or not. she walks big distances at each new school to discover the entrance.

paranoid wasteful nonsense