Losing weight can be a difficult journey, even for adults. For one seven-year-old boy in China, however, it has turned into a viral challenge that has attracted 1.8 million likes online.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post, the young boy agreed to skip rope for every like his video gets, saying he wants to lose weight.
The video was shared by his father, surnamed He, in early February. What began as a simple attempt to encourage healthier habits quickly gained massive attention online, Qilu Evening News reported.
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Father’s viral rope challenge:
The boy, nicknamed Tangdou, which means “sugar bean”, had been spending time in his hometown in Jiangsu province with his grandparents before reuniting with his parents in Shandong for the winter break.
Tangdou is 1.32m tall and weighs 45kg. According to child growth standards set by the country’s National Health Commission, a seven-year-old boy should usually be about 120-126 cm tall and weigh around 19-26 kg.
During this period, his father noticed that the child’s school had assigned daily rope-skipping homework and decided to build on the idea as part of a fitness routine.
To motivate him further, the father introduced small cash rewards for weight loss and even linked the number of rope skips to the number of likes their video would receive.
In a video shared on February 8, the father told his son he would reward him with 10 yuan (about $1.50) for every half kg he lost.
But if the boy put on weight, he would have to give his father 10 yuan for every half kg gained.
“I am not forcing you. You are willing to skip the rope, right? So if 1,000 likes or even 10,000 likes are received, you will still skip?” asked the father.
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Video gets 1.8M likes:
Confidently agreeing to the plan on camera, the seven-year-old did not expect the overwhelming response.
Within a day, the video had gathered 1.8 million likes, leaving both father and son stunned.
In a later video, the boy appeared shocked by the numbers and admitted he could not possibly skip that many times on his own, even asking his father to help.
In a recent video, the father said jokingly, “I am not sure if Tangdou still regards me as his father.”
The father later said they had never imagined the video would spread so widely. Still, he maintained that he would continue supervising his son’s exercise routine for the sake of his health, while also teaching him the importance of standing by his word.