Mother of Smoking Toddler Seeks Help for Son

The mother of an Indonesian toddler addicted to cigarettes has agreed to seek help for her son following a wave of international outrage.

Photo: Mother of Smoking Toddler Seeks Help for Son

Video footage of two-year-old Aldi casually smoking cigarettes for the cameras shocked people around the world as it circulated on the internet last week.

His parents, who live in a fishing village on the island of Sumatra, claimed their child was "healthy" despite providing him with about 40 cigarettes a day.

But mother Diana has now responded to pleas from health experts and agreed to treat her overweight son's addiction.

She flew Aldi to Jakarta to meet with the chairman of Indonesia's National Commission for Child Protection, Seto Mulyadi, who said the toddler was a victim of his environment, Ninemsn reports.

The mother further shared that she and her husband have quit smoking.

His father gave his son, his first cigarette when he was just 18 months old and now he is totally addicted. This is unacceptable to most of the parents of the world.

Ardi’s mother said, "He’s totally addicted. If he doesn’t get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall".

About 25 percent of children who fall in the age group of 3 to 15 in Indonesia have smoked cigarettes, because of carelessness of the parents, TopNews United Kingdom reports.