Chinese New Year (CNY) really left an impact on my son. He was captivated by lion dancing, a passion he followed keenly by watching lion dancers strut their stuff on YouTube.
It wasn’t long before he clamoured to buy his own lion dance head. He has too many toys already, but his defence I don’t have a lion dance toy! was impenetrable in his mind. Eventually, my wife and I gave in.
I’m an unorthodox parent in the sense that I allow my son to spend his CNY ang bao money 🧧. He was informed that he would need to use his ang bao money, which he agreed enthusiastically. Oh, what do children know about money at their impressionable age?
We ordered a lion dance head online. From then on, he relentlessly asked when it would arrive. Every day, we would explain that it would take some time for the parcel to be shipped over from China. But his incessant questions never stopped.
The lion dance head arrived yesterday. Boy, was he overjoyed. He kept jumping up and down as I struggled to tear it apart. He gleefully held it in his hands, ecstatic to be acquainted with his new toy. He even generously shared it for a while with his baby sister - before taking back possession of it ofc. It was 35 bucks well spent for him.
This got me thinking. Where was the last time I really felt elated buying something? With all the logical talk of budgeting and focusing on needs, spending money has become a perfunctory exercise. Save to invest. Spend wisely. All these mantras have jostled the joy of spending out of my mind.
I hope my son never holds back from spending money on things he knows he will love ❤️. It’s part of being carefree.
It took 14 months but I had my dog, who was with me through a concussion I lost 8 months of memory from and had to be hospitalized and 3 neurosurgeries, made into a diamond and set in a ring... Not cheap but I wouldn't be here without him!
Thank you everyone for the support! His name was Rusty and I will be sure to write about the process and show photos in the Photography territory!
Change of plans! I posted the full story of him and the journey with a ton of photos in the Dogs and Cats Territory!
You are a fighter n your dog enlarged the size of the fight in your being 👍
He was the bestest boy! Its why I still use his photos in most of my social media pictures!
Wow that is incredible.
It wasnt cheap by any means but... He got me through the darkest time of my life and loved me no matter what
Last week when bitcoin dropped back to 61k I felt a lot of joy buying the dip.
Besides that probably when I bought my dad a snowblower for his driveway so he didn’t have to shovel anymore.
Getting your dad that snowblower must have been the best feeling in the world.
Haha until he got pissed and said “I didn’t ask for that”. He changed his tune later and uses it all the time now. I get it. No one likes when time takes things away from them.
After I posted my reply I imagined my father's reaction. What the f#$& did you do that for?
Luckily my wife is more civil than your dad. See response above ☝️
My next battle is to get him a pair of walking sticks (the ones that look like ski poles) for his daily walk. That’s going to be a tough sell.
This reminds me of the time when I bought Dyson, the world’s most expensive hairdryer, for my wife - and all she could do was mutter a shocked “Huh?”
Did she end up using after her initial response?
I have very low personal material desires. As mentioned another time, my Zwift machinery to bike at home is the most recent thing I splurged on and still feel happy when I look at it.
It may sound cheesy, but the times I feel elated spending money on something is when I see either my wife or son happy about getting something. Joy has a transitive property for me. If B feels happy about C, then A (myself) feels happy about B being happy.
Cheesy or not, I feel the same way. I rarely feel joy through material objects. The last thing I bought myself that really made me feel joy was a new mac for myself.
However, buying things for my wife makes me happier than anything
Is she high or low maintenance? Haha
Definitely more low maintenance kinda gal. She’s not coming for my money or anything she’s rather sweet. She’s very grateful for everything I do. And vice versa
I get what you mean. I bought rather nice ear rings for my wifey two Christmases ago - and it still gets to me when she wears them
You have to spend on what you know is important, my dog was recently saved from cancer, I uploaded a post about it to SN, it cost me quite a bit of money, but it was to save him and I am incredibly happy!
I’m grinning from ear to ear as I read this! Zapped you twice my default amount…Sssshhhh don’t tell anyone
Thanks mate! I'll keep my mouth shut haha :D
Legos for my son and building with him!
im on the same page.. my oldest is adicted and asks me EVERY day to play with the legos.. i think its what i do most these days apart from work..
Quite an expensive addiction haha…unless he keeps playing with the same set
Your son will get along fabulously with mine haha
I just replaced my old DSLR with a new camera, just right before a long trip. I've taken great memories of my children, friends, and family with it. I thought about it for almost 2 years before buying it.
Did the long trip finally make you take the plunge?
Sounds like money well spent!
Just buying the regular coffee on daily basis
Coffee makes me happy too
When my nephew was around 5 years old, he became obsessed with construction vehicles after watching some videos of excavators and bulldozers at work. It started innocently enough with him making engine noises and pretending to operate an imaginary digger. But soon, he was begging his parents for toy trucks and construction sets. For his birthday, they caved and got him a deluxe construction vehicle set with miniature trucks, diggers, cranes and the works. For the next few weeks, he could hardly be separated from those toys. He'd line them all up meticulously and narrate elaborate building projects, moving the vehicles around with utmost care. As adults, we often lose that sense of wonder over material things in the pursuit of more practical goals. I'm glad you let your son experience that childlike thrill over his lion dance head. Those are the moments that shape warm memories for years to come.
Thank you for taking the time to share this heartwarming story. It makes me want to discard my fatigue and work harder as a dad haha