A father who made his son cross a busy road in Hong Kong on his knees was given 12 months of probation on Monday (May 15), Hong Kong news media reported.

The construction worker, who is not named to protect the child's identity, made his eight-year-old son pull his ears and crawl across the road in Lam Tin in the Kwun Tong District in January.

The father was arrested after witnesses to the incident called the police. It was also captured in a video which was widely circulated online.

The 40-year-old single parent pleaded guilty to one charge of ill-treatment by a person in charge of a child, RTHK reported.

A probation officer found that the father was a responsible parent but did not know how to discipline his children.

The father of three has been looking for classes to learn about parenting and stress management, the South China Morning Post said.