A mum has shared her terrifying ordeal after a teacher mistook a stranger wearing a Covid face mask as her child's granddad.
Jessie Harris Bouton, from New York, is sharing her experience to try and warn parents of the perils of "stranger danger."
She said she was left mortified after turning up at a pre-school to find her toddler girl, Lola, aged three, was missing.
In a video posted on Instagram, she said: "The teacher explained that Lola was reluctant but she assumed it was [her granddad] because Lola was disappointed I hadn’t picked her up.
"I had a funny feeling. I arrived home to find NO LOLA with my father-in-law."
She frantically contacted her family and on returning to the school 15 minutes later, Lola thankfully returned.
It later transpired the elderly gent had mistaken Lola for his own granddaughter who he regularly picked up from the same pre-school and it was all an innocent mistake.
She said: "It's crazy that the man didn't notice it wasn't his granddaughter. It's crazy the school doesn't have a policy in place to ensure a mistake like that doesn't happen.
"It's okay to ask to see faces if they aren't sure it's someone they know."
The incident on Friday March 26 led the mum-of-five to issue a warning to fellow parents.
She urged: "Please talk with your kids about stranger danger with masks.
"Teach them to understand that adults can make mistakes too and to speak up and use their voice if they think something isn’t right.
"And lastly – things like this happen every day and so many aren’t as fortunate as me to get their baby back in their arms safely."
