One of my readers confided that every year her child receives a lot of lucky money, she is broke. Some people do not use red envelopes, but give money directly. If they give their child 100,000 VND, then they have to give back the same amount. They have three children while she has one. So, many times when she goes to wish them a happy new year, she has to... count the number of children of the person she is about to meet.
These two stories made me realize that giving lucky money has long ceased to be a child's affair and has gradually transformed into a borrowing and repayment between adults through children.
Returning to the story of the 7-year-old boy receiving lucky money in the form of books and plants, I confess that I also contributed to that by participating in calling on parents to give their children lucky money in the form of books and plants. Last year, the book sales of the company where I work increased sharply near Tet. My family's flower and ornamental plant shop (now closed due to Covid) sold nearly 100 Poinsettia plants as gifts every day since December 23. I responded to the movement initially for business reasons, but later I saw the true meaning of giving books and plants to children: it is to give books instead of money if we want the child to grow up with the pages of books; it is to give plants instead of money if we want the child to learn how to love, care for, and nurture a living entity. This year, many bookstores have begun to pay attention to this by posting posters calling for lucky money in the form of books.
But giving lucky money in the form of books or plants is not to prevent children from having headaches about money early on. Money is not always worthless. Money is not always the source of sin. Money is not a measure of wealth or poverty, or the sweat and tears, calluses on parents' hands... I do not agree with parents who complain that they have to spend more than their children receive. Do not teach children about profit and loss in the joy of giving.
How much is enough to give to children as a New Year's gift? Many parents ask me that question. I always think of giving lucky money to children by converting it into a breakfast for children of that age. Why a breakfast? I think about how to help children easily visualize the value of lucky money. I hope that instead of giving it to a piggy bank or "letting mom keep it for you", parents should open a bank account with their children. I have suggested this idea to a few friends who work in banking, but it seems that the amount is too small for banks to care about. I wish every child would have a bank account created by their parents from a young age, so that when they are 5-9 years old, they will learn about saving, knowing that money can make money; when they are 10-13 years old, they will learn about the responsibility of saving, about emergency funds; when they are 14-19 years old, they will learn about investing a sum of money in some way. Banks can also join hands with parents to teach children about financial IQ.
How much you give in lucky money is not as important as how you give it, the wishes for children are more important than the amount of money. I sincerely hope that my friends will pay attention to their children through their wishes rather than the amount of money. Every child needs to receive wishes that are "tailored" to them. Don't "uniformly" give wishes. Because lucky money envelopes don't just contain money. They also carry wishes. They also contain hopes and desires. They also carry all the good things that we want to send to the child.
Finally, I think parents need to teach their children how to receive lucky money. This is very important. Don't wait until you are startled when your child innocently pouts about how little lucky money they receive or innocently brags about how much this person gives them than that person. Children should be taught the meaning of lucky money, how to appreciate what others give them, and how to be grateful for the little things.
Children also need to be reminded that there are different measures of human value, not just the amount of money they have. Understanding this, children will know how to speak and behave appropriately with lucky money, instead of innocently hurting the giver. These are things that need to be accumulated every day, not waiting for Tet.
According to VnExpress
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