With the help of psychologist Seto Mulyadi,  the Indonesian toddler whose controversial story hit the Web last spring, Aldi Rizal, has finally kicked his two pack a day cigarette habit.

Mulyadi isn’t just any psychologist, he’s the chairman of the Indonesian National Commission for Child Protection, a big job since in that part of the world child slavery, child abuse, and yes, kids smoking cigarettes, are accepted by some of the local cultures. Mulyadi takes his job very seriously–he brought Aldi into his own home and helped him quit by distracting him with toys and social interaction. Once Aldi, now 30 months old, found other things to occupy his time, quitting wasn’t far behind.

Mulyadi’s techniques of keeping the addicted child busy with positive, fun things to do and cognitive-growth activities is similar to many addiction treatment techniques currently in use with teens and adults.

Mulyadi says though, that cigarette smoking in Sumatra and other Indonesian areas is still a huge problem among children as young as 2 years old and many parents just aren’t heeding health warnings.  Changing the culture may take time, but Mulyadi, a hero in my book, is helping, one kid at a time.

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    Last reviewed: 6 Sep 2010