two-year-old smoker finally quits 40-a-day habit
A two-year-old boy has kicked his 40-a-day smoking habit thanks to a month spent in rehab.
As reported by The Daily Mail, Indonesian toddler Ardi Rizal was filmed smoking by a TV crew in the South Sumatra province.
Speaking about the extent of the addiction earlier this year, his mother Diane said: "If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick."
Ardi was filmed enjoying what is hoped to be his last ever cigarette before he went into rehab. During the first two days he was tested extensively, when a thickening on the left wall of his heart was discovered. However, experts believe this is caused by obesity - Ardi weighs four stone - rather than smoking.
When the nicotine withdrawal kicked in, Ardi could be seen rolling around the floor, screaming and crying as he was refused cigarettes.
"Through play therapy, we will lead him back to the beauty of childhood play," explained Kak Seto, his psychologist. "If it can be done well, I am optimistic that Ardi will stop smoking."
His mother Diana was given life coaching courses on how to be a better parent, in order to enforce the smoking ban at home.
Child smoking is a widespread problem in Indonesia. According to Aris Merdeka Sirait, the CEO of the National Committee of Child Protection in Indonesia, more than one in three children will have smoked before the age of 10. "Unhealthy children will be the future of our country," said Sirait. "It is genocide."
