A 4-year-old boy outsmarted his mother in southern Germany by locking her and a friend out on the balcony of their home, prompting a police call-out.

After leaving the two unwitting women trapped outside of the flat in the town of Goeppingen, the child then promptly went to bed, police said in a statement Saturday.

He was already in a deep sleep when the women noticed what had happened, so they had to call the police.

Officers were unable to wake the sleeping child by ringing the bell, so members of the fire brigade had to forcefully break the lock.