Jakarta: An Indonesian mother, Maryati, 35, has revealed that her two-year-old son, Rapi Ananda Pamungkas, smokes about 40 cigarettes per day.
According to media reports, the toddler started the habit very young when he used to pick up cigarette butts outside his mum’s market stall in the hill station resort of Sukabumi.
He later demanded cigarettes from the passers-by. The adults initially found the toddler’s demand endearing and gave him cigarettes.
According to his mother, Rapi becomes aggressive and throws tantrums whenever he was not given cigarettes. To calm him, Maryati now buys at least two packs of cigarettes every day to stop him from going ‘berserk’.
She said: “My child is used to smoking while drinking coffee and eating cake. If I don’t give him a cigarette, my child goes berserk.”
She added: “If Rapi doesn’t get cigarettes he cannot sleep. He will start rampaging and crying. It’s expensive, because we have to buy them for him. He likes to do it all day. He can smoke about 40 every day.”
His father Misbahudin, 40, said he is also a smoker but doesn’t know why his child started the habit.
