Father in China leaves young son on highway to ‘frighten’ him about fight with sibling

Father in China leaves young son on highway to discipline him after he bullied sibling

To discipline his son for bullying his sibling, a father in China left him on the side of the highway and drove off.

A passing motorcyclist was shocked to find the boy — aged between seven and eight years old — wandering on the road shoulder of a busy highway in the autonomous territory of Xinjiang.

According to South China Morning Post, the boy’s mother eventually walked 1.5km to retrieve the boy.

Motorcyclist stops to help abandoned boy on highway

On 16 Aug, a motorcyclist spotted the young boy on the roadside of China National Highway 219 in Xinjiang. The rider stopped to talk to the boy and asked how he got separated from his family.

The boy told the motorcyclist that his father had left him there after he got into a fight with his brother.

“My older brother said something bad about me and then I hit him. My father became angry with me,” the boy said. “He told me to get out of the car.”

The motorcyclist then called the boy’s father, asking him if he was aware that his son was walking on the side of the road.

“I know. His mother is walking back along the road to pick him up,” said the father.

Father defends disciplinary actions

Although he later apologised on social media, the father also defended his actions. He said he had asked his wife to retrieve the boy after driving about 1.5km away.

Additionally, the boy only wandered along the side of the highway for two minutes before the motorcyclist encountered him.

The father also took the opportunity to explain why he disciplined his son:

My younger son often fought with his elder brother. On the day of the incident, I had already given him two verbal warnings. But he still hit his elder brother. I was furious, so I wanted to frighten him.

On 17 Aug, the man made posts on social media in which the young boy said he was alright.

“Thank you all for your care about me. I am fine. My parents treat me well, and we are eating barbecue now,” the boy said. “It was my fault for making my father angry. I often bully my older brother.”

Many observers online criticised the man’s disciplinary actions, pointing out that there are safer ways to punish a child.

In the past, this was not an uncommon method of disciplining children, even in Singapore. In 2016, parents in Japan faced no charges for abandoning their 7-year-old son in a forest for six nights after he threw rocks at cars.