The headline reeks of child abuse, but please be assured that it’s not.

It’s merely an unfortunate tale of how a mother had to make tough decisions to raise her son as she works to support her own family.

Selling Desserts and Looking After A Child

With delivery riders on the rise in Singapore, surely, you’ve seen an occasional child strapped to the back or front of an electric scooter or personal mobility device as their parents are driving around delivering orders.

Sometimes, you can’t afford childcare services or don’t have a family member who can help, a parent has to do what they need to support their child.

For this particular case, a woman from Guizhou, China, sells ice jelly desserts to the citizens of Tongren City to eke out a livelihood.

While Ms Li goes about her business daily, she keeps—not locks—her two-year-old child in a “cage” beneath the cart to look after him.

It’s not the best condition to raise a child, admittedly.

There are only blue blankets to cushion the hard metal and daily necessities like food, water bottle, and tissues, pushed to the corner of the cage. The child is small enough that his head doesn’t touch the ceiling when he’s seated, he can stretch out his legs, and he’s free to unlatch the door and get out whenever he pleases. 

The interiors are well-hidden by the large advertisement banner, but people have noticed the child inside.

A Neglectful Father, A Desperate Mother

According to various Chinese news sources, the mother technically has two jobs: she sells sweet wines in the morning while she spends the rest of her time running her carted ice jelly.

When Ms Li is at her daytime job, it’s easier to leave her child at home because he’s usually asleep. She has surveillance cameras installed at home to look after him and would rush back to take care of him once he wakes up.

But afterwards, there are seven to eight hours of wakefulness where she must look after her growing son, while ensuring that she has the financial means to do so.

It’s a tough juggling act to be a mother and a breadwinner, especially when her unemployed husband is so addicted to video games that he neglects their child.

In an interview with Jiu Pai News, she stresses the seriousness of her plight, where her child could sometimes go hungry because he isn’t fed any milk.

Hence, Ms Li feels like she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands.

She converted the bottom of her cart into a makeshift cage to keep her child safe and where she can constantly tend to him.

Her customers often see him playing underneath the cage as she bustles about.

Netizens’ Reaction

After learning about the entire story, many in the region have expressed their sympathies to Ms Li, urging her to take good care of herself and her child.

Ms Li is already giving her utmost effort to raise her child, and it’s really commendable.

It must have been a tough and challenging decision for her to make, to have to put up with a good-for-nothing husband that doesn’t pull his weight in any shape or form.

Parenthood is hard.

Let’s hope that the authorities can give her some assistance to help her take care of her child.

Featured Image: YouTube (Phong Vu)