In what will likely set a precedent among the younger set who usually only manage to run away from home and get as far as the parking lot behind the candy store a block away, police in Shanghai say a 12-year-old boy missing for six days was found at an IKEA store after living off supermarket samples.

The boy and his mother had reportedly had a fight about his school work, reports the Shanghai Daily News (h/t RT.com), and he’d stormed out of the home last week with very little money in his pockets.

His father says he hung out in the city during the time he was gone, and would venture into grocery stores for free food samples when he got hungry.

After he went missing, police spotted him wandering around a railway station on surveillance footage, prompting officials to ask his mother if there were other places he liked to go.

“She gave us eight or nine names, including Caoxi Park, Nanfang Shopping Mall, In Center and IKEA,” a police rep said.

He was soon spotted at the IKEA outlet on surveillance cameras. After 40 minutes of searching the store — blocking exits to make sure he didn’t slip out — police found him on the ground floor. It’s unclear whether he was actually living inside the IKEA store, but the bedding department does sound like an ideal camping spot for a kid.

He’s now recovering with an IV drip at a local hospital, and his mother says she’s going to work on communicating with him better.

I hear ya, kid. If I had a nickel for every time I wanted to run away over math homework, I’d have enough nickels to buy myself an IKEA.

Boy missing 6 days found in IKEA [Shanghai Daily News]

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