When ‘little emperors’ misbehave

Bratty kids in China are back in the spotlight. Will they learn or can their parents teach them?

CHILDREN running around wildly or shouting and screaming uncontrollably are quite common scenes at public places. Such behaviour drives me nuts.

“It’s OK, they are still small” and “Kids are like that one” are standard responses I get from parents, including my friends, who fail to control their little brats.

A few years ago, I saw a boy doused with ice kacang after he ran into a waitress at a restaurant.

Luckily, she was not holding something boiling hot. He cried but I laughed on seeing the grass jelly and other ingredients on his head.

I don’t blame these children for their misbehaviour.

Instead, I blame their parents because I understand that kids do not know what is right or wrong, and they should be guided properly.

In Sichuan province recently, a seven-year-old boy paid a heavy price for his “naughtiness”.

He was violently attacked by a man on a public bus in Suining city. Footage of the incident, taken from a surveillance camera on the bus, has gone viral.

It begins with the boy teasingly kicking the hands of a seated man three times.

The next second, the man jumps up, grabs the boy by his jacket and slams him onto the floor. He then stomps on the kid’s head and body three times.

A female passenger standing near stops the man.

The child is seen struggling to get up twice but fails. After that, he lies motionless on the floor.

Police have detained the 21-yearold attacker, surnamed Guo, for investigation.

The boy had bruises and scratches on the face.

It was reported that the boy, a primary school pupil, was being noisy in the bus. Guo asked the boy to be quiet but the boy instead went on to kick Guo, thus triggering his rage.

Guo later made a public apology to the boy and his family.

“I was being emotional and I realised I have overreacted. To the boy, his family and concerned public, I wish to say sorry. I hope the kid will recover soon,” he said to the media.

In another incident in Hangzhou, a boy was slapped for teasing a worker at a milk tea shop owner.

One evening last month, a primary schoolboy came to the shop and made a face at the owner, identified as Xiao Cheng.

After that, the boy said, “I’m your father, I’m your mother, I’m your whole family.”

Feeling humiliated, the fiery Xiao Cheng rushed out, confronted the boy who was walking off, and slapped him.

Later, the boy’s grandparents went to the shop to query about the incident. An argument ensued with the elderly pair calling police to settle the dispute.

After negotiations, Xiao Cheng paid 2,000 yuan (RM1,240) as settlement.

On the Internet, the Chinese are divided in their views on these cases of bratty behaviour and the aggressive responses from the adults.

Some reprimanded the men over the violence, pointing out that the children could have easily been seriously injured or even killed.

“Give the children a chance. Talk to their teachers or parents instead of punishing them yourself,” wrote an online user.

But many others feel that stubborn kids should be taught a lesson or punished accordingly if they are to learn how to behave well.

Some netizens have shared their encounters with spoiled kids.

“They threw burning exercise books into my place through the window,” wrote Laughing.

Another online user Kaiwenmoer said a child, who had just finished eating a sausage on a skewer, used the stick to poke his wife’s buttocks.

In February, a boy was taught an unforgettable lesson after he urinating in a lift in his apartment block in Chongqing.

A security camera showed that the boy, who was in the elevator alone, urinated all over the floor.

He then took aim at the control panel, causing a malfunction that trapped him inside. The boy was rescued unhurt.

Some people blame the parents for not teaching their children, or for focusing on the wrong things.

The argument here is that parents nowadays are more concerned about their juniors’ academic performance than about their character.

Last month, anxious parents who were sending their children for school entry interviews created a chaotic scene at a private primary school in Liaocheng in Shandong province.

It was a huge crowd and there was pushing and shoving to enter the school compound. Finally, the school gate collapsed but no one was hurt.

“How can these undisciplined parents educate the next generation?” asked a Weibo user.

Another post on Weibo read, “Instead of interviewing the children, the school should interview the parents. Family education is more important after all.”

The argument is that parents nowadays are more concerned about their juniors’ academic performance than their character.