angbao ownership

Like flowers, the kids unfurl new petals every now and then, blooming into the adults they will soon become.

This Chinese New Year, Jo starts labelling her red packets.



What does this say about her personality?

We give the kids their first angbaos on Day One.

Day and Lu give me their packets for safekeeping. Jo asks me for a pen before writing her name on it, big as can be so no one can mistake that it’s anyone else’s but hers.



She does this for every single angbao she receives throughout the day and watches my bag like a hawk.

The one time she thinks I accidentally gave out her angbao to another child (a mistake I am likely to make because inside the bag is a war zone), she is beside herself.

She is certainly more careful than her easy-going mother, who would be happy just taking out all the money received at the end of the day and dividing it by three.

In fact I think the way I am compels her to be what she is becoming, because she thinks she must cover mummy’s back (like how she makes it a point to manually lock the car after we leave it because I never do. Lock the car, I mean).

For sure, if there was anything which needed safekeeping, I’d entrust it to her.