VIDEO: Meet Aldi Suganda - The Chain-Smoking 2-Year-Old Boy
Posted on Jul 01, 2010 @ 06:32AM
Aldi Suganda is the 2-year-old who's become the latest Internet sensation after a series of YouTube videos of the boy -- a chain-smoking toddler with a two-pack-a-day habit -- have garnered millions of hits in recent weeks.
Watch the video on RadarOnline.com
CBS Early Show caught up with Aldi's family in their Indonesian homeland of Sumatra Wednesday, and talked about the boy's taste for tobacco, which they said began when he was just 11-months-old.
"He was being very fussy, always cried when we were there to sell," his mother Diana said through an interpreter. "So, we just let him play by himself. One day, we followed him from behind and found him hanging out at a cigarette stall. He had a cigarette in his hand, already lit. He already knew how to do it very well, like an adult. It was actually his own wish.
"If he can really quit smoking, he will definitely be a very healthy boy, without any disease,” his mother said. “But now, I don't know of what will happen in the future."
Smoking in Indonesia is quite common, authorities said, as more than a third of the country's population tends to light up.
"Over 31 percent of Indonesian children smoke a cigarette before the age of 10," Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids spokesman Matthew Myers told CBS. "The reason is that the Indonesian government has completely failed to educate its public and has allowed the tobacco industry to engage in marketing practices that haven't been permitted in the United States for years."
Said his mother: "Nowadays, he smokes one pack a day, two packs at most. We surely hope he will quit, that he will be like any other kid, not smoking. But I can't stand seeing him hurting himself. What can we do but to accept it is as it is?"
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THE STATE OUR WORLD IS IN TODAY, IS SO SAD: PARENTS THAT DON'T KNOW HOW TO PARENT.... CHILDREN, WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE A CHILD.... BABIES, THAT CRY, FOR LOVE... WHAT A DISGRACE, TO OUR HUMAN RACE, ANIMALS TAKE BETTER CARE OF THEIR YOUNG..
Posted Fri, 07/02/2010 - 10:55pm
Who is BUYING him the cigarettes? His ding dong parents thats who. Maybe if they stop giving him the cigarettes and tell him that it is bad he will get over it. This is the most bizarre thing I have ever read in my life. This poor child is doomed.
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 9:19pm
Sick. Just sick.
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 8:50pm
I call Bullsh*t. What does she mean it is what it is..Its called parenting! I don't care where your raised, An 11th month old child doesn't saunter down to a smoking stall by his self. Send the baby to me, I'll raise him!
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 3:52pm
I think the parents should be in jail. This baby is 2 years old. They are slowly killing their own baby. This is really sick.
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 2:09pm
This child needs to be taken away from the parents. This is child abuse at the highest level..HOW do they think that this is ok???
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 1:23pm
pholmes, ITA! I didn't even watch the video. The story was enough! How very sad!
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 11:45am
Child abuse plain and simple. If it were in a country where the government cared about its children this child would be removed from their home and should be. I would not call the folks who gave birth to him "parents" that's for sure
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 11:30am
Sad excuse for parents.
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 11:03am
The sad thing about all this is the family can't afford to let him quit smoking now, because all the media attention is earning money for them. This kid has become a local celebrity.
It will no longer be amusing when he gets older.
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 10:50am