E-Paper
Frustrated mom stops car on highway to thrash son who tried to jump out: 'Verbal education didn't work'
A Chinese mother stopped her car on an expressway and beat her son for misbehaving.
A mother in China sparked controversy after stopping her car on an expressway to physically punish her young son for misbehaving. The incident, which took place in Zhengzhou, Henan province, in mid-February, was captured on video and quickly went viral on social media, igniting debate about parenting methods, reported the South China Morning Post.
The woman, identified as Zhang, pulled over in the emergency lane after her son threw a tantrum and threatened to jump out of the vehicle because he did not want to go home. In the video, she is seen forcing the boy, believed to be around eight years old, out of the car before whipping him with a tree branch while holding onto his coat to prevent him from running away. The child can be heard crying as she punishes him.
Reportedly, explaining her actions, Zhang said, “I found verbal education did not work. His actions were affecting my ability to drive safely. I knew I would be fined for stopping the car on the freeway. But I could not stand him any longer. I needed to teach him a lesson immediately.”
Under China’s Road Safety Regulations, using an emergency lane on a freeway for non-emergency reasons carries a fine of 200 yuan (US$27) and a nine-point deduction from the driver’s license.
Zhang also revealed that in her household, when a parent is disciplining a child, other adults are not allowed to interfere. This explained why the other passenger in the car, who filmed the video, did not intervene.
Viral video
On February 18, Zhang shared another video in which her son admitted his mistake. “I realise that it is quite dangerous to jump out of the car on an expressway. It was wrong. I hope other children will not learn from me,” the boy said.
The video quickly went viral, accumulating five million views on a major social media platform. The incident divided public opinion. Some netizens defended Zhang, with one commenting, “At first I thought the mother was unstable. But after learning the details of the incident, I support her.” Others criticised her decision, with one person warning, “It is still dangerous to beat a child on the road. What if he ran into the middle of the road? It is better to hit him after you get home.”
