Netizens flame “abusive” mother who forcefully covered child’s mouth and pushed his head against MRT seats

A woman caught on camera forcefully covering the mouth of a child – believed to be her son – then pushing his head against the seats in an MRT compartment has been branded a child abuser by netizens online.

Videos of the incident were posted online by Facebook user Tyronne Tong, who alleged that the woman also subjected the child to a barrage of punches, off camera. Alleging that the woman appeared to be from China, Tong added:

“This is Singapore not China for god sake. There’s a difference between disciplining your child and abusing them at such a young age. Furthermore in public.

P.s this was going on for more than 10mins and I only manage to get 2 clips of it. And throughout the 10minutes she was literally sending barrage of punches to the kid. Let me enforce, PUNCHES NOT SLAPS.”

In the video, the child can be seen tearfully speaking to the woman who suddenly grabs his face. She also appears to swing her hand towards him but the boy appears to block it.

Tong alleged: “The kid wasn’t misbehaving, the kid just kept on telling the mum not to beat him and he wants to stay with her and the mum reacted the way she did as seen in the video.”

He further added that many passengers tried to intervene and scold the woman but she simply continued disciplining the child.

The two videos, which were posted online last Friday, have gone viral with over 200,000 views collectively. It has also sparked intense debate between netizens who echo Tong’s sentiments that this is child abuse and those who defended the woman’s actions.

A majority of netizens expressed concerns over the way the child was treated and noted how the child was flinching in fear in the videos. One netizen said:

“True enough. But there’s always other ways to discipline a child no matter how hard it is. But never ever ever ever do it in public. It will affect the child mentally. It might not be now but when he grows up, it might cause a trauma even small little things like shouting at them in public. Get help. In Singapore, there are courses and specialist to help deal with difficult children.”

Others have opined that this is a domestic matter and that the parent has every right to discipline her child as she sees fit. A netizen asserted:

“You call this abuse? You have no idea what my mum did to me back then. Chairs and things nearby were thrown at me and my sisters, got pinched till blue-black.. slapped our faces.. without all that, I won’t be who I am right now.

“I gotta thank her for all that. I am a mother myself.. my children are like small monsters. No matter how soft and nice you speak to them, they won’t obey or listen. It’s tiring and frustrating for mothers like us. 

“Which mothers don’t love their own child? We went through labour to give birth to them.. why would we wanna see them hurt? Yes, we are angry at that point in time. you may never know when she’s home when the kid is sleeping.. she would say to him.. sorry for treating you that way but you gotta learn. 

“It’s for his own good. Once you’re a mother.. kids are your priorities. You want the best for them. Don’t expect everyone to be the same in disciplining their children.”