Smoking toddler 'too unfit to play with friends; w/ Video

[Today]

Source!

The footage shows two-year-old Ardi Rizal reclining with a cigarette in his mouth. He waves it around, and draws back deeply on the cigarette.

Ardi's parents claim that the child is addicted to nicotine.

His mother Diana 26, told Britain's Sun newspaper she felt powerless to deny the child.

"He's totally addicted," she said.

"If he doesn't get his cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick."

Ardi Rizal smoked his first cigarette when he was 18 months old and now smokes 40 cigarettes a day.

The overweight toddler is deft at blowing smoke rings, but is so unfit he cannot play with other children.

"I'm not worried about his health and— he looks healthy," his father told reporters.

There has been an increase in the number of smokers aged between four and nine in Indonesia over recent years.

Authorities have blamed aggressive advertising and smoking parents.

According to the Sun, Indonesian officials have offered to buy the family a car if the boy quits.

YouTube Footage


"I'm not worried about his health and— he looks healthy," He can't play with other kids, and his lungs are still in development yet being destroyed to the cigarettes! I never really thought that has being healthy?

 

[Mic_128]

They shouldn't be bribing them with a car, they should be taking the kid off them. Come on, anywhere in the west that'd be child abuse and he'd be taken away so fast...

 

[Teran]

Oh wow, I thought I started young.

What a pro.

 

[El Nino]

They shouldn't be bribing them with a car, they should be taking the kid off them. Come on, anywhere in the west that'd be child abuse and he'd be taken away so fast...

Well, that would assume that the government has the means to take care of other people's kids in the first place. I don't know if Indonesia offers those types of foster care services. It's also an assumption that people would just let the government or any other "authority" take their kids from them. Culturally, that may not be acceptable in certain societies.

That said, I hope they bribe them with a good car at least. I know that smoking is the thing throughout Asia, and the kid would probably pick up the habit when he got older anyway, but it's unwise to ignore the health risks. That stuff's still real, whether people are educated about it or not.

/hypocrisy ftl (because of my on again off again relationship with smoking)

 

[victra♥]

wow that's ridiculous

and darn, the video has been removed

 

[pickle962]

Now toddlers are smoking? WTF

 

[Mota]

Bah just because he looks healthy doesn't mean he is. So many health problems in the future + he's still developing.

Does smoking stunt growth? If it does, this toddlers going to be a ******.

 

[Mic_128]

Bah just because he looks healthy doesn't mean he is.

He's not, he's overweight

 

[Pluvia]

Wait, if I get my 2 year old to smoke, I'll get a car?!?

Imagine what I'll get if they start on drugs.

 

[El Nino]

Wait, if I get my 2 year old to smoke, I'll get a car?!?

Only if you live in Indonesia.

Smoking is something of a pandemic throughout parts of Asia. This isn't an isolated case. Smoking is so prevalent in some places that it's fairly common for little kids to pick up the habit. So it isn't like this is just bad parenting. The health ministry in Indonesia has a tough challenge on its hands because they have to fight against a social trend, not to mention the market forces that drive the tobacco industry. The tobacco companies have a lot of influence because they have all the money, which means they put their image out there with advertisements and media sponsorships, and it has a serious pull on the younger demographic especially.

 

[Greenstreet]

The kid is clearly smoking to lose weight... just not sure it's working..

 

[CRASHiC]

"I care about nothing I should, and am interested in everything that is none of my bussiness"
"The media aims to please"
- Calvin and Hobbs

 

[Nø Ca$h]

my grandfather started when he was 9, and my bff started when he was 11.

but this ***** is HARDCORE

 

[Dark_Ermac]

o o o

WHY?!!

 

[Mr.Freeman]

Wonder how his lungs will be in like 10 or 15 years...

 

[CRASHiC]

They should change the title to "Smoking Toddler Too COOL To Play With Friends"

 

[Jimmyfosho]

i saw this somewhere else... i facepalmed -facepalms again-

 

[pickle962]

Wonder how his lungs will be in like 10 or 15 years...

He'll be in the hospital by then.

 

[Pikaville]

This is actually insane.

 

[Mr.Freeman]

Actually, from what I've heard he probably won't even live to be five or six.

Also heard the parents can't afford food. Seems weird they can buy their kid cigarretes..

 

[M.K]

Actually, from what I've heard he probably won't even live to be five or six.

Also heard the parents can't afford food. Seems weird they can buy their kid cigarretes..

If the parents can't afford food, why does the kid look like a baby Snorlax?

 

[El Nino]

Also heard the parents can't afford food. Seems weird they can buy their kid cigarretes..

If they have to divert funds to pay for his habit, they're probably having problems affording other things. I highly doubt that this is a wealthy family. Adults have a hard enough time dealing with withdrawal; I don't know how a kid could manage it. It must seem easier from the parents' perspective to give him his addiction rather than deal with his withdrawal symptoms.

If the parents can't afford food, why does the kid look like a baby Snorlax?

My guess is he's overweight from inactivity rather than overeating.

 

[UberMario]

Actually, from what I've heard he probably won't even live to be five or six.

Also heard the parents can't afford food. Seems weird they can buy their kid cigarretes..

Especially since their government said they'd give the family a CAR if they made him stop and they REFUSED. I don't understand the parents' logic at all.