Seen on the MTR

Tonight as I was exiting the MTR I saw a couple pushing their baby boy in a stroller.  And by baby boy, I mean a child no younger than three and most likely close to five years old, so fat that he appeared to be swollen, and wearing a u-shaped travel pillow around his neck, I imagine to keep his head from banging into the metal frame of the stroller because he was waaaaay too big to be in that thing.  The outline of his head was straining against the fabric top of the stroller and his meaty knees were sticking up into his chest because of how he was sitting to keep his legs from dragging on the floor.

I was tempted to take a photo but then I would have lost what was left of my humanity.

Your meat mountain of a boy can walk.  That is what his legs are for.

Comments

SKreader said…
WOW - way harsh.

"Your meat mountain of a boy can walk. That is what his legs are for.".

You don't know that he can walk. It could be that he cannot. The fact that he has a u-shaped pillow to help hold up his neck might indicate that he cannot.

I had a neighbor here in HK, their younger son suffered from a severe neurological problem and he could not walk and barely could move his arms in a coordinated way. He was also quite chubby.

They were lucky enough to be able to afford a car. Imagine how hard it must be to have to travel w/ a disabled child on the MTR.

I had a hard enough time hauling my kids & their strollers up and down stairs to the stations when they were under one-year old and less than 10kg.
architart said…
You make a good point Winifred. My father also had difficulty with motor skills as a child and I am aware of how fortunate I am that I did not inherit his condition. Maybe I misdiagnosed the child as a little emperor but I would point out that he was unrestrained and looked unsafe in the undersized stroller. I also have found through my own experience that public health care in HK is good and there is no wait list for occupational therapy. When I was unemployed I used the public hospital for four months of rehab and was given braces for less than $500 total. And that was without any price waivers. I hope that anyone needing assistance can receive it. This is one thing that I wish the US could adopt.
Troika said…
Bit rich coming from a native of the fattest state in the world's fattest nation.

Adults can walk too, ya know - perhaps some of your lot should learn that. IE, walk to McDonalds instead of hitting the drive-thru.
architart said…
I moved to the US in my teens and moved to Texas in my early 20s. If that makes me a native...

Yes, there are a lot of big people in Texas and they have free will to do someting about it. Children need guidance. There were a lot of big kids in TX who were just big and healthy but there were a lot of big kids who weren't. The kid who I mentored was 11 and already had type 2 diabetes. He also suffered from joint pain. I think health is something that parents need to give their children along with love and devotion. Bad health can be a lifetime sentence.

For the record, one of the considerations that SB and I thought about in our discussion over children of our own was if we had the time to give a child along with all of our love and well wishes. We didn't think so.
Jennifer W said…
Ahh Carol I just love you. I work at the Rosa here and that's my population! Big ass kids being carried or pushed by their (normally) big ass parents. And they're all eating Hot Cheetos and drinking Big Red even though the kids are coming in for vomiting... Sigh.