The Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) recently published statistics showing that children between 11 and 15 received a total of almost NT$10 billion in gift money over the Lunar New Year.
This survey used questionnaires that were completed by 1,367 students from elementary and junior high schools.
Up to 94 percent of children receive red envelopes, in which parents put gift money, at Lunar New Year. On ave-rage, each child receives NT$6,274. The Ministry of Education’s statistics for 2009 state that there are 1.54 million students between 11 and 15 years old in Taiwan, so the total amount of gift money they received should be almost NT$10 billion!
Photo: Su Fu-nan, LIBERTY TIMES 照片:自由時報記者蘇福男
About 80 percent of these children choose to save it. Hsiao Ru, a girl attending first year at junior high school, said, “I will save a part of my gift money, and spend the other part on books, game software, or anything else I fancy.” Hsiao Chi, a girl in her sixth year in elementary school, said, “I give all my gift money to my mother. She will save it toward my future school fees. Part of it, combined with another part from my younger sister, is used to sponsor a little girl in another country.”
The TFCF said that parents should teach children the right way to use money, and how to differentiate between the goods they need and those they want. By spending their money on what they need and saving the remainder, they could learn to share what they have and understand the concept of donation. Encouraging children to donate to others of the same age who are in difficulty will teach them to use their money in better ways.
The TFCF suggests that parents should not ask their children to save all their gift money. Instead, they should train them to think about how to manage their money while they use it, and make an appropriate plan for the money they receive, the fund said.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
家扶基金會近日針對台灣一千三百六十七位國中及國小學童進行「壓歲錢與零用錢」問卷調查發現,全台灣十一至十五歲的孩子過年領到的壓歲錢總共將近一百億!
高達九成四的孩子在過年時可以領到壓歲錢,平均每個孩子可領到新台幣六千兩百七十四元,若以教育部二零零九年公布的一百五十四萬人計算,十一至十五歲學童的過年壓歲錢總和近新台幣一百億元!壓歲錢的用途,以儲蓄佔八成居多。
就讀國一的小如說:「我的壓歲錢一部分會存起來,一部分會拿來買書、遊戲軟體或自己想要的東西。」讀小六的小琪則說:「我的壓歲錢都會交給媽媽,媽媽會幫我把大部分的壓歲錢存起來當以後的學費,有一部分則是和妹妹一起拿來捐助認養國外的小女孩。」
家扶基金會呼籲,家長應教導孩子學習正確的金錢使用觀念,分辨究竟是「需要」或「想要」。在儲蓄及必要花費之外,也可以適時地將「捐款分享」的觀念帶進生活學習中,藉由誘導孩子幫助同齡的貧困弱勢孩子,讓孩子對金錢的運用及價值有更好的認識。
家扶基金會建議,家長不應一味地要求孩子把所有零用錢或壓歲錢存起來,而是應訓練孩子在使用金錢的過程中花點思考力,將所獲得的金錢做妥善的規劃安排。
(自由時報記者湯佳玲)
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
Drive-through (or drive-thru) restaurants provide people with the immense convenience of being able to purchase and pick up meals without needing to leave their vehicles. These restaurants have been around for decades, and their success has spawned a number of equally handy services. The drive-through concept originated with the drive-in restaurant, the first of which was established in the US in 1921. Patrons would order and eat the food that was delivered to their cars by workers called “carhops.” Ten years later, a drive-through service was introduced, but it was not until 1947 that the first exclusively drive-through restaurant opened its
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
On Tuesday last week, the flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000km before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It’s meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event and the ancient Greek original on which it was initially modelled. Once