Little Girl Punished to Do Homework on Knees in the Hot Sun

From Sina:

Father Forced Little Daughter to Do Homework While Kneeling in 40°C [104°F] Weather, Claimed She Can Stand It

Eastday.com, July 26 — According to a Shanghai Morning Post report, yesterday [July 25], Shanghai Meteorological Bureau issued a high temperature red alert, and the highest temperature in Shanghai stayed at 39.3°C [102.74°F]. However, on such a hot day, at a factory at No.23, 185 Lane of Hongxing Road, an 8-year-old girl was seen kneeling on the ground doing homework for as long as 3 hours [pictured above].

Girl was too afraid of her father to stand up

Yesterday [July 25] morning, at a factory at No.23, 185 Lane of Hongxing Road in Pudong Chuansha, a girl in a pink t-shirt kneeled under the scorching sun doing her homework, wearing shorts on her lower body, her bare knees kneeling on the scalding cement ground. A netizen took a photo of the scene and posted it online, accusing the girl’s parents of corporal punishment.

The reporter of this article then arrived at No.23, 185 Lane of Hongxing Road. This place is a factory area, with several small enterprises manufacturing chemical or rubber products. The old gatekeeper of the factory area confirmed that there was indeed a little girl doing homework on her knees under the scorching sun. He said the surface temperature of the ground was close to 50 °C, and the little girl’s head was bathed in sweat; having been kneeling since 8:30am until 11:30am when she was finally “given permission” to stand up. During this time, a woman passing by who could not bear the sight of it tried to persuade the girl and pull her up, but the girl replied with: “Without my dad’s permission, I don’t dare get up!” According to nearby residents, the girl’s dad was punishing her for her poor marks in school and unfinished homework by having her kneel on the cement ground of the factory and do her homework.”

Neighbors claim this kind of punishment has happened more than once

A woman living nearby told this reporter that the girl’s family was from Anhui Province, and that the father runs a factory and the mother looks after the child at home. “Their family lives on the 2nd floor of the workshop building by the gate. This wasn’t the first time there has been a kneeling punishment like this, I often see it. The old gatekeeper has tried to talk the girl’s father out of it before, but was given the cold eye and sneered at.”

This reporter went up to the second floor of the workshop building, and the room to the right of the stairwell is where the girl’s family lives. The girl’s father is in his 30s, not particularly tall man, and was wearing shorts and sandals. Upon hearing that it was a reporter here to interview him, he immediately waved his hands to drive the reporter out. When this reported asked whether educating his daughter by punishing her to kneel on the ground was appropriate, he said: “My family’s business is not your concern. Off you go, go do what you ought to do.” This reporter continued asking: “With such hot weather, you’re not worried about your daughter getting sunstroke/heatstroke?” “She can stand it,” the father answered confidently. When this reporter tried to approach the little girl, the girl’s father became even more anxious, and pushed this reporter out of the building. ”

Corporal punishment may cause abnormal development of child’s character

Yesterday [July 25], according to the relevant authorities in Pudong New District Tang Town, after the town’s Youth Protection Department learned of this matter, they joined with community police and paid a visit to the child’s home to discuss the matter. After persuasion, the girl’s parent indicated that he understood his mistake, and promised this kind of thing would never happen again.

With regards to this, East China Normal University’s Psychological Consultation Center’s Children and Adolescents’ Psychological Consultant Expert Chen Mo indicated that this kind of behavior is an insult to a child’s dignity. Chen mo especially warned those impulsive parents that this kind of corporal punishment is very likely to cause abnormal development in a child’s character.

Shanghai Zhengming Law Firm lawyer Chen Xin believes, from the perspective of the law, the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Minors” stipulates that [teaching and administrative staff] may not use corporal punishment, disguised corporal punishment, or any other act that humiliates personal dignity on minors and children. But when it comes to specific law enforcement, parents who engage in corporal punishment of children do so mainly for education, and is not considered [merely] discipline.

Comments from Sina:

wangxiubin55555 [黑龙江大庆]:

The desire for his daughter to do well is good. However, not every child has the ability to get high scores. Every teacher knows that academic study requires innate talent. It’s like how birds are born to fly, but fishes can only swim in the water. Can you say that fish are not as good as birds? This kind of punishment will only harm the child. Imagine you at the age of 80, and your child asks you to go carry a 50kg burlap sack or else you must kneel on the ground. That day will come. Education should be rational, and love should be stored.

晓雨211 [上海]:

All fathers like this are mental deviants without knowledge, cultivation, education, ability, and self-respect! This kind of person is not qualified to have children!

大美人紫色的梦 [天津]:

Is this [what] a father [ought to be like]? To say you’re abusing your child is not the least bit exaggerating. [I] Condemn you！

没文化的继电器 [上海]:

Children shouldn’t be spoiled like Mengge [the mother of Li Tianyi] did to her son, nor abused like the man did in this article.

手机用户 [广西南宁]:

[I] Feel sad for the little girl. Inhuman father…!!!

手机用户 [北京]:

Men like this have tendencies towards domestic violence; women should keep their distance from men like this.

手机用户 [上海]:

Loving mothers tend to have failing children [mothers who spoil their children often have children who end up being failures]. Little children should be punished, but there should be a limit, and one must not overdo it.

传递正能量YEAH [浙江绍兴]:

Clearly abusing the child, he has no right to do that, and should be deprived of custody!

lcfpb [河北邢台]:

You don’t need to criticize the parents, they [simply] want their child to do successful in life. In fact, they may be very good [to their daughter] normally. Sometimes, it’s really frustrating when children do poorly in school, and the worse the children are in school, the more worried the parents will be. Actually, parents too are reluctant to use corporal punishments on their children. However, when words of praise and encouragement are exhausted, there is only this one way left.

手机用户 [浙江杭州]:

I think this may not necessarily be a bad thing. There is a saying, loving fathers tend to have failing children [similar meaning as Loving mothers tend to have failing children].

What do you think? What was the worst punishment you’ve experienced from your parents?