'I think kids who are spanked will be better-behaved': Strict aunt Ya Hui shares views on corporal punishment

Local actress Ya Hui has been cast as a single mum with an eight-year-old son in upcoming Mediacorp drama Uniquely Ours, despite not having kids of her own.

In a recent interview with 8World, the 37-year-old revealed that she used her experience as an aunt and learnt from her friends who are mums to play Lin Minchen.

"It's really hard to be a modern mother. You can't scold your kids too harshly and have to consider their feelings and worry about mental trauma," she said.

In contrast, she suggested that mums in the past didn't have the luxury of "thinking so much", and would scold their kids if they didn't do well in exams, and spanked them if they didn't do their homework.

Corporal punishment is a divisive issue among local parents, including celebs — with some opposed to it and others regretting hitting their kids in the past.

Ya Hui, however, said: "If the child still doesn't behave after you've told them something many times, you have to spank them.

"I think children who are spanked will be better-behaved, probably because I was also spanked when I was a child."

Ya Hui revealed herself to be a strict aunt to her brother's children, revealing she would previously spank her nephew — just a "pat" on his hand, she clarified — and then reason with him seriously.

"If my brother's children do something wrong or are disobedient, I will speak up. I'm not the gentle type, I don't have that much patience," she said.

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In the drama, Minchen works part-time in a fruit stall after losing her office job due to her ex-husband's gambling and drug troubles.

She moves with her son into a rental flat with a live-in landlord Zhao Ziyao (Li Nanxing). As a strict mum herself, she becomes a stepmother figure for his kids Ruiyang (Zhai Siming) and Ruixing, disciplining them after seeing how lax their father is with them.

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Uniquely Ours, which also stars Ye Jiayun, Desmond Ng, Phyllis Quek, Pan Lingling, Roy Li and Richard Low, is set to premiere on Dec 23. It will air Mondays to Fridays at 9pm on Channel 8 and be available to stream on Mewatch.

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drimac@asiaone.com