14 DAY TRIAL // A little over 2 years ago, the world was shocked when photos of a 2-year-old boy puffing away on a cigarette as he rode a tricycle in his home village in Indonesia emerged online. Even the local government got involved and had little Ardi Rizal on a special program to help him kick his nicotine addiction.
In a bid to keep up with Ardi’s efforts, TLC UK will air tonight a documentary dedicated to him on a new episode of “Elephant Man: Body Bizarre,” a trailer for which you can also see embedded below, at the end of this article.
The good news is that Ardi isn’t smoking anymore but the bad news is that, at only 5 years of age, he’s addicted to junk food. As you can see in the preview below, the boy is already a bit overweight, with nutritionists warning his parents that they need to keep a closer eye on his diet to help him rid of the excess weight.
The documentary, the Daily Mail informs, tells how Dr. Kak Seto helped Ardi quit smoking. His mother tells the TLC crew that people around the village still offer him cigarettes, but he always turns them down because he looks up to the good doctor and doesn’t want to disappoint him.
However, she resents it when the same people refer to her son as “the smoking kid” because “it makes me feel like they are accusing me of being a bad parent.” For those not familiar with the case, it was Ardi’s mother who first gave him cigarettes.
She tries to reason through that by saying that, at the time, she could think of no better way to keep him quiet and to prevent a fit of anger from taking over him.
“When Aldi first quit smoking he would demand a lot of toys. He would bang his head on the wall if he couldn't get what he wanted. That's why I get him cigarettes in the first place – because of his temper and his crying,” she says.
She used the same “gimmick” when he went through nicotine withdrawals, for which reason he’s now addicted to junk food.
“Now I don't give him cigarettes, but he eats a lot. With so many people living in the house it's hard to stop him from getting food,” she explains.
However, after seeking advice from nutritionists, Ardi’s parents are determined to get him to eat healthier, even instructing his siblings to not give him food even if he asks for it.
