2024 Homecoming Observation|Is the child's New Year's money kept by himself or handed over to his parents?

Research and Evaluation Center for Rural Revitalization in the Yellow River Basin, Northwest A & F University

Recently, the issue of the ownership of the New Year's money has been hotly discussed, who should keep the New Year's money, and who should control it?

Xiaowei (pseudonym) just entered high school this year, and on this day he took the 1,000 yuan New Year's money he received this year and began to "negotiate" with his parents: "I will collect this money, okay?" The parents were shocked: "Didn't we collect it for you? Xiaowei still insisted: "The classmates all use this money to buy something they want to buy, not to mention that I don't spend it and keep it for myself!" Parents also know that their children are not children who like to spend money indiscriminately, and finally at Xiaowei's insistence, the parents agreed to keep the New Year's money by himself.

The author's hometown is located in a county-level city in Hebei Province, where relatives and elders prepare New Year's bags for younger generations every year, which contain New Year's money. In my own impression, the New Year's bag is getting thicker and thicker, maybe ten years ago you can still see the 50 yuan banknote, slowly, the red envelope in the 100 yuan banknote is getting thicker and thicker, and even sometimes so thick that they give up the shackles of the red envelope, only give a pile of cash, with the rise of digital currency, online transfer has gradually become a way to give red envelopes; If there is one child in the family, it is basically an exchange, and it is not necessary to be too troublesome, if some give more and some give less, it will be even more troublesome". Here, as long as the younger generation has not worked to make money, and is still in school, almost all will receive red envelopes, so I have observed that with the change of children's age, the ownership and control of New Year's money are also changing:

First of all, in primary school and beyond, the daily expenses of children are almost entirely responsible for their parents, and children are not very clear about the concept of money, and they lack the ability to control and manage thousands of dollars. Therefore, it has become a habit for parents to keep it, and children rarely ask about it. (Xiaomei and Xiaoshuai are sisters and brothers, the elder sister is 10 years old, the younger brother is 4 years old, the amount of red envelopes they each received this year is about 9,000 yuan, their mother told me: "The children have not asked where the New Year's money goes, we have saved it, they basically have no chance to spend money, so let them know that there is a custom of pressing the New Year's money, these money are basically saved in the family account, there is no special purpose, and even a training course is not worth it." At the secondary school level, children's needs are no longer limited to the survival provided by the family. Development and protection, etc., adolescents at this stage will rely more on their social living environment and social practice activities to achieve their own development, in short, they are more closely connected with the society, accept more external information, and at the same time material desires will be stimulated, and slowly have the idea of controlling their own New Year's money, at this time, children will strive for part of their own New Year's money to manage and dispose of themselves, which is also an opportunity to exercise a sense of responsibility and money management ability.

According to the provisions of the Civil Code, as an act of gift, the donor gives his property to the donee free of charge, and the donee expresses his acceptance of the contract. At the same time, taking into account the actual situation of minors, the Civil Code also stipulates that the parents of minors, as guardians, have the right to keep property on behalf of minors; finally, although the ownership belongs to the children, whether they can be disposed of at will should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, if minors who have reached the age of 8 buy large items or large amounts of game recharges, rewards, etc., they must obtain the consent or recognition of their parents. After reading the law's interpretation of the ownership and control of the New Year's money, we already have a clear and legal answer to the question of "who should own the New Year's money", so is this the end?

In fact, when we try to discuss the issue of the ownership of New Year's money from a legal perspective, this custom has lost its own meaning and value. New Year's money, also called "祟" (refers to unlucky things) money, as a New Year's custom originated earlier, really popular in the country in the Ming and Qing dynasties; after the New Year's dinner, the elders should send the New Year's money prepared in advance to the younger generations, because people think that children are easy to be harmed by sneaky, so they should use the New Year's money to suppress evil spirits, and the New Year's money in folk culture means to ward off evil spirits and drive away ghosts, bless peace, and contain the concern and sincere blessings of the elders to the younger generations. In the early days, New Year's money was not given to real money, but only to symbolic things like money, hoping to play a deterrent role such as suppression, suppression, and warding off evil spirits; later, people gradually strengthened the practical meaning of New Year's money, and it became real money.

Before discussing who should keep and dispose of the New Year's money, we might as well think about whether it should be an asset or a folk custom. Based on the reality of contemporary social life, the New Year's money is more like an asset dressed in folk customs, from Zimmer's point of view, giving New Year's money is a kind of interaction with others, this behavior contains the category of relationship between people, of course, it will also be affected by the characteristics of modernity, so it will inevitably face the tension between traditional culture and modern rationality; from the currency reform in the 50s, to the continuous improvement of the mainland's economic situation after the reform and opening up, the habit of giving the New Year's money to the real currency and the trend of giving more and more is difficult to completely change, so since it has been used as an asset, how to make its traditional folk value greater play is worth thinking。

First of all, you can emphasize the sense of ritual of the New Year's money, contemporary young people pay more and more attention to the sense of ceremony, that through a certain ritual can better give meaning to the behavior and daily life, highlighting the sense of ritual of the New Year's money on the one hand, the children can feel the profound traditional culture, on the other hand, it can also add a strong New Year's flavor during the Spring Festival; Promote positive songs and programs, and promptly correct and guide some works that utilitarianize New Year's money and maliciously smear traditional culture, so that excellent folk culture can add a strong New Year's flavor.