Dad 'abandons' son in public to teach him a lesson, gets slammed by netizens

Getting lost in a crowd can be a traumatic experience for a child. 

But that didn't stop this father from 'abandoning' his son at the National Library Building to "teach him a lesson".

Alex Lee, 38, shared in a TikTok video on Tuesday (Oct 31) that his son, Daken Lee, 10, was at the Smart Nation Builder truck exhibition at the library which has interactive game stations for the public to learn about Singapore's Smart Nation initiatives.

Since his son was "too engrossed with the games and didn't want to leave", Lee decided to sneak away. 

The video, under his account name Familee1985, was captioned: "Go and find a new family, my son. I will miss you."

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@familee1985/video/7295718146982350081[/embed]

Wanting to make it a teachable moment, Lee left Daken alone at the truck exhibition and hid behind one of the pillars at the library. 

"We abandoned our son and we don't regret it. He needs to learn the hard way," Lee wrote.

The 30-second clip shows Daken running out of the truck exhibition upon realising that he was alone. He can then be seen looking around desperately hoping to find his dad.

Even though Lee can see that Daken was panicking, he decides to stay out of sight to observe how his son responds to the situation. 

Unable to find his dad, Daken reaches for his phone. But at that moment, he spots his father hiding behind a pillar and looks relieved. 

'Asian parenting'

Garnering 186,000 views within a day, Lee's video received 144 comments, with many criticising his parenting style.

There were some users who however agreed with Lee's parenting, stating that it is "Asian parenting" and that it worked for them as a child. 

Many also commented that "Singapore is safe" and that Lee was always keeping a lookout for his son from the sidelines. 

In an interview with AsiaOne, Lee said that he wanted to teach Daken about situational awareness — the ability to perceive, understand, and effectively respond to one's situation.

"It's important for him to know that he needs to be aware of his surroundings at all times, especially when he's in a public place," the digital marketing manager added.

Aware that the video received mixed responses from netizens, Lee said that he understands that some users may not agree with his parenting style, "as they may not be familiar with how safe Singapore is".

'We would likely repeat the prank'

Making sure that their son is safe and secure before playing such a prank on him, Lee said: "We would remain close by in case he needed us."

"We would likely repeat the prank, as we believe it is a valuable lesson for our son to learn," Lee added, stating that this isn't the first time they've 'abandoned' Daken to teach him about situational awareness. 

"We try to keep things lighthearted and fun at home, and we think it's important for him to learn to take things in stride," Lee told AsiaOne. 

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ashwini.balan@asiaone.com