A mother in China caused a stir after she stopped her car on a busy highway to punish her young son for being bad. This happened in Zhengzhou, Henan province, in February, and it was caught on video that quickly spread online, starting a big discussion about how parents should discipline their kids.
The mother, named Zhang, pulled over to the side after her son, who is about eight years old, had a meltdown and said he wanted to jump out of the car. In the video, you can see her forcing him out of the car and using a tree branch to hit him while holding onto his coat so he couldn’t run away. The boy was crying during the punishment.
Zhang explained her actions, saying, “Talking didn’t work. His behavior made it hard for me to drive safely. I knew I could get a fine for stopping the car there, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to teach him a lesson right away.”
In China, stopping in the emergency lane for no good reason can result in a fine of 200 yuan (around $27) and points taken off the driver’s license.
Zhang also mentioned that in her home, other adults should not interfere when a parent is disciplining a child. That’s why the person filming the video didn’t step in.
Later, Zhang shared another video on February 18, where her son admitted he was wrong. “I realize it is very dangerous to jump out of a moving car on the highway. I was wrong. I hope other kids don’t do this,” he said.
The video got a lot of attention and reached five million views on a major social media site. People had mixed reactions. Some defended Zhang, saying they understood her after learning more about the situation. One comment said, “At first, I thought she was acting crazy, but now I support her.” Others disagreed, warning that it was still unsafe to hit a child on the road, saying, “What if he ran into the street? It would be better to wait until you get home.”
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