A boy from Wuyuan County, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, helps deliver piglets while doing his home work in the family's pig barn. Photo: Pear Video

The 11-year-old son of pig farmers in North China's Inner Mongolia wasn't about to fall behind in his schoolwork just because he was also responsible for assisting a huge sow to deliver her piglets.

An online video shows the boy on his hands and knees crouched over his homework in an empty pen in the family's pig barn, while eager new-born piglets suckle on their mother in a nearby pen. 

"He started helping when he was five. He is already a bit of an expert," said his mother in an interview with Pear Video. 

While the sow was giving birth, the boy cut the umbilical cords of the seven piglets, cleaned the pen afterwards and then went straight back to his homework, said the mother. That night two other sows went into labor and by the next day the family had 40 piglets to care for. 

"He often helps us and takes care of himself when we are busy," his mother proudly told Pear Video. 

The video attracted many internet users' attention.

The boy "is much more mature than his peers from the cities. I hope he has a bright future," wrote a netizen whose comment received many thumbs up.

"I do not think it is good for the kid. His parents should balance housework and his study," said another netizen extending his concern.

Pear Video