A dad who found himself in a police cell after smashing his daughter's phone wants his story to serve as an instructional lesson to other parents.

The New South Wales father of three, Andrew*, on A Current Affair , said he had not spoken to his only daughter in four months.

"It's killing me," he said.

"I just want to give her a cuddle. I want to tell her I don't blame her."

A dad says he was just being "a parent" when he smashed his daughter's phone. (A Current Affair)

Andrew said it started over a missing chocolate bar he believed his daughter had taken.

She denied it, but his son found the wrapper in her room.

Andrew said what ensued was a typical teenage tantrum, with his daughter refusing to go to her room or give him her phone.

"While I was getting her back in her room, she's struggling with me, and she's pushed me, we've both fallen," he said.

"There was a ladder. I grabbed the ladder to stop myself from falling, and as I've done that, it's pulled across and smashed the light in the bedroom and glass just went everywhere."

He said he cleaned most of the glass up, but his daughter cut her foot on a piece as she "stormed to the kitchen".

Andrew spoke to A Current Affair reporter Dimity Clancey. (A Current Affair)

Andrew says he tried to calm the 13-year-old down.

"She kept going on, 'I want my phone'," he said.

"I said, I'll smash your phone if you keep carrying on, it's a privilege, not a right.

"She goes, 'go on, smash it'. So I've thrown it on the ground.

"As a parent, you've got to follow through, so I did."

Andrew is a single father and blames what his daughter did next on a breakdown in family relationships after his messy separation.

The 13-year-old called her mum, and then the police.

"I ended up grabbing the phone off her, and I was speaking to the lady on Triple Zero, and she's like, 'put your daughter back on', and wouldn't even listen to me," Andrew said.

"I said, this is a 13-year-old chucking a tanty over a phone."

Andrew was charged with assault and malicious damage, to his own disbelief.

"When I was in the police station, in the cell, I was so upset," he said.

"I was crying in the cell. I was that upset, and I could not fathom it had come to this situation."

When Andrew was summonsed to a courtroom, the magistrate seemingly also couldn't fathom it.

A magistrate quashed the assault charge. (A Current Affair)

"He said he can't believe we're even here. Complete and utter waste of time," Andrew said.

"No corroborating evidence whatsoever for any of the charges.

The magistrate quashed the assault charge, giving Andrew a good behaviour bond for smashing his daughter's phone.

Andrew maintains he did not smash the phone out of anger or frustration.

"She backed me into that corner and I had to follow through," he said.

He had no conviction recorded, but said his experience should still be a lesson for every parent and their challenging teenagers.

"If you're in trouble here, you cop it, and that's all there is to it," he said.

And he urged parents in a similar situation to "really think".

"You've got to pick your battles," he said.