It seems the school of hard knocks didn’t turn out the way one mum in China wanted it to.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post (SCMP), a woman surnamed Deng said she had encouraged her 17-year-old son Shen to start a snack stall.
According to Deng, she wanted to teach Shen about hard work and its challenges after she confronted him about his failing grades at a culinary arts and vocational school.
“He didn’t want to face the struggles of school, so I wanted him to tackle the challenges of real life instead. Making money isn’t easy,” she says in the interview.
Deng herself has been running a street stall selling fried chicken in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province for three years now.
Shen told Deng that he “didn’t want to go to school anymore” because “studying is meaningless”
With the help of Deng, Shen used a modified electric bike, built a snack stall, and went to work immediately,
Shen starts his day prepping his food at 9am before travelling 13km to set up his stall at 4pm. He would only reach home at 3am.
In 10 days, Shen went on to make an impressive 10K yuan (S1.8K).
Ironically, his success with the stall saw him choosing to drop out of school entirely.
We can only imagine how confused Deng felt when she saw how everything turned out.
In fact, Deng says in the interview that she tried to persuade him not to give up on his studies though it seems Shen is determined not to return to school.
“A 17-year-old child has independent thoughts. As parents, all we can do is provide our support,” she tells SCMP.
Deng also says that even though her plan to get him to do better in school backfired, her priority is for her son to be healthy, and happy and “guide him to not do anything illegal”.
In grades-obsessed Singapore, how many parents will let this fly?
Of course, many netizens had a laugh over how Deng’s failed attempt at teaching her son a lesson, with many also sympathising with Shen’s decision.
“School is not the only path in life. If someone lacks interest in studying, mastering a skill to earn a living is also a valuable option,” read a comment.
Another also praised Deng for respecting Shen’s wishes and for not being a ‘Tiger Mum’.