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» 'Kowtowing' wife taken away from family

» Man goes too far in punishing his wife and sons

» Man makes wife kneel and kowtow

By Lediati Tan

I WAS not wrong, said the man who reportedly made his two sons run laps around a block of flats.

But he admitted to The New Paper yesterday that it was probably bad judgment on his part when it came to disciplining children.

He spoke to us for over an hour yesterday evening, through the window of his living room.

He said the method used was "not that appropriate" and that he should have used other ways to discipline his children.

Lianhe Wanbao reported on Monday that his two sons were made to run 40 laps round a Circuit Road block for three hours last Sunday.

Neighbours also saw his barefooted wife kowtowing to him at the foot of the block of flats where they live.

The incident attracted the attention of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS).

On Tuesday, an MCYS officer was seen accompanying his wife to the three-room flat to pack some personal items.They left soon after.

When contacted, an MCYS spokesman said: "The children and mother are in a safe environment and MCYS is working with the family to address their issues and concerns."

The man told us he wanted to punish his children for doing "something very wrong".

He declined to elaborate on what they did but said that his intention was good and he simply wanted to teach them proper behaviour.

He added that he did not force his two children to run 40 laps round a block of flats.

"I initially wanted them to run 10 rounds but I would have stopped at five rounds if they had been serious about it,"he said.

His sons did not take the punishment seriously at first and took 10 minutes just to complete one lap round the block, he said.