Mum horrified after a stranger tries to feed her toddler his half-eaten pau on the MRT

SINGAPORE: Boundaries are boundaries, and it’s a mother’s job to keep her children safe, especially when they’re young, which is probably why one mum took to TikTok to express how upset she was after a stranger offered her toddler some food that he was already eating.

In a caption to her post, she wrote that feeding strangers’ children should not be normalised.

A Sept 12 video from Yanti Lala (@yantilala95) showed a young child on the MRT, seated in a stroller facing his mother. Beside the child was a man who she described as having “absolutely no care in the world about the rules and casually sits on the MRT floor while eating his pau,” the TikToker wrote in the text overlay.

For her, the worst part came when the man offered his food to her child, a boy named Khalis. 

“It happened so quickly that by the time I realised what was happening, the pau was already right in front of Khalis’s mouth. I immediately screamed and pulled Khalis closer to me. Like. Who in their right mind thinks it’s okay to feed a stranger’s baby, especially with half-eaten food!?” the mum added.

She also wrote that she did not care whether what the man was eating was halal or not, but the fact that he had already taken bites from his steamed bun meant his saliva was already on it, and she therefore could not understand why he would want to feed it to her child.

The mother noted that she doesn’t mind when strangers sayang sayang, a term in Malay for showing affection, her children, but giving food to them is “a whole new level.”

Commenters on the post agreed that the man on the train was definitely out of line.

“It doesn’t have to be a foreigner… people literally.. I hate that people just give food without consulting and calling me petty when I stopped them feeding other kids… like you wouldn’t want to be responsible if there is an allergy or contamination happens.. You never know the kids’ health condition,” wrote an irate TikTok user.

“Omg what???? The audacity,” a commenter exclaimed.

“Some people have no sense of boundaries!” a third chimed in. 

“And omggg if the child has allergies or is immunocompromised,” one wrote.

“Should’ve reported to the SMRT staff. That’s an instant $500 fine,” added another. /TISG

Read also: SG mums agree with angry TikToker who said there should be a ‘DO NOT TOUCH MY BABY’ sign