A mother in Taiwan who punished her six-year-old daughter by making her walk barefoot on a hot pavement has sparked public outrage.
On July 14, the woman in Hsinchu city, northern Taiwan, scolded her little girl for losing her shoes.
She then made the youngster walk barefoot on the scorching asphalt road for at least 20 minutes, according to the Taiwan’s Liberty Times.
The temperature that day reached 34 degrees Celsius, while the ground temperature was 20 degrees higher, according to TVBS News.
The little girl cried out while walking, saying: “Mum, it’s so hot, my feet hurt so much.”
But the woman remained indifferent, holding her daughter’s hand and forcing her to continue walking.
A passer-by filmed the incident with their phone and tried to intervene, telling the mother: “Isn’t this too cruel? What you are doing is child abuse.”
“Go ahead and call the police if you want,” the woman shouted back.
The stranger also offered to buy shoes for the child but the mother refused.
After receiving a report from the passer-by, the local government sent social workers to the woman’s home to investigate. They found blisters and burns on the girl’s feet and took her to the hospital.
United Daily News reported that the mother is a single parent who does not have a steady job. She lives in a rented flat with her daughter.
The police said they will continue to monitor the family.
The incident sparked a strong reaction on social media.
“This mother should not take out her emotions on her daughter. Such punitive education is extremely selfish,” one online observer wrote on YouTube.
“I hope social organisations can protect this little girl. The mother needs education. She clearly does not know how to love her child,” another person said.
It is not the first time reports have emerged of parents punishing their children in unconventional and extreme ways.
Last August, a young couple from Zhejiang province in eastern China disciplined their son at a food court for running around and making a noise.
The couple tied their son to a lamp post with tape and continued eating dinner while passers-by mocked and filmed the boy.
In November 2022, another couple in central China’s Hunan province forced their eight-year-old son to stay up all night watching television to punish him for watching too many cartoons.
