Chinese media recently reported the case of a 14-year-old boy who shocked police when he accused his father of “illegal child labor”, because he had been forced to do chores around the house.

The bizarre incident allegedly took place this week in Ma’anshan, China’s Anhui province. Sick of seeing his son with his hands and eyes glued to his smartphone, and ignoring his homework and studies, a parent decided to give the boy a taste of life’s hardships, and asked him to put down the handheld and do some housework. Angry with his father making him take a break from his phone, the reportedly smartphone-addicted teenager snuck out of the house when his father wasn’t paying attention and went straight to the police station. There, he proceeded to accuse his father of “illegal child labor”.

Photo: Jonas Leupe/Unsplash

The officers on duty didn’t really understand what was going on when the 14-year-old boy made his accusation, so he accompanied the boy home to get a better understanding of the situation. When he told the boy’s father what his son had accused him of, the flabbergasted parent proceeded to explain what had happened, that he simply took the boy’s phone away and made him to house chores.

Under Chinese law, housework does not constitute child labor, so the parent was in the clear, but the officer tried to find out how the boy could report his father for something that could have landed him behind bars. After getting no answer from the teenager, the policeman advised his father to discipline him, adding that taking his smartphone away for a while seemed like a good idea. To that, the boy replied:

“Do you really think I only have that mobile phone? That’s so naive of you!”

The bizarre news went viral on Chinese social media, where people accused the son of acting unfilial, and advised his parents to have a serious talk with him before it’s too late.