S’poreans Angry At ‘Irresponsible’ Mother Who Brought Kid With HFMD To Playground

Have you ever got Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD)?

It’s an annoying one to be down with, and a lot of kids at Woodlands may soon experience just how annoying because someone brought their infectious little one to a place crowded with other little ones.

What Happened

A Facebook user posted a screenshot of someone’s Instagram story showing two (blurry) children on swings at a playground. A caption read: “HFMD but still smiling”.

You’d already know that this didn’t receive masses of support from fellow parents about the bravery of the child. In fact, the picture was obtained from a parenting group, and the user was quite upset at the parent for bringing her sick children to the playground (and posting it on social media to top it off).

“I wonder if people actually know how HFMD is spread. There is a reason why those with HFMD are not allowed to go to school,” she writes, crying for increased responsibility on the parents’ part when their children are suffering from HFMD.

Echoed Responses

Most of the Facebook users, many of whom also seem to be parents, had the same line of thought. Some of the commenters went ahead and did the very typical netizen move of wishing suffering, karmic retribution and death upon the parent (with colourful language to boot).

But I wonder how many parents would actually be as diligent as they expect others to be had they been in the position of the parent under fire.

As a clueless someone who’s very far from being a parent, is the etiquette displayed below actually seen commonly in Singapore?

Responsibilities of the Sick

Japan is very polite in this area. If you’re sick, you do your best to not infect others.

Singapore is very practical. If you’re sick, you don’t purposely infect others but a lot of us resume our normal day today. After all, even if you’re ill, if you have to go to the supermarket, you have to go to the supermarket, no matter how crowded it could be.

But I guess however much we aren’t saints, highly contagious diseases like HFMD and chicken pox do pique most of our consciences, and most do try and be more considerate while fighting the battle themselves.

In this case, people are probably more highly strung than usual because children are involved, and children are weak and precious.

Infectious Zone

A couple of commenters helpfully identified that the playground is likely Woodlands Crescent Meadow Blk 782D #01-341S(734782). The playground is within the vicinity of a preschool, Skool4Kidz, which some alerted so they didn’t bring the children to that playground.

Since the Facebook post went up on 23 May, it’s been 4 days. The HFMD viruses are able to survive for a couple of days on surfaces, so if you live in Woodlands, give that playground a bit more quarantine time before going there with anyone.