$100 only? Singaporeans tickled by 'ungrateful' kid

A father initially had his pride over his daughter’s award dashed after believing that she was unappreciative of the monetary gift — she kept repeating “$100 only” after receiving the prize. But it wasn't what he thought. 

On Saturday (Jan 18), Tong Yee’s daughter was conferred an award by the Ministry of Education for displaying good progress in school, which meant getting a nice certificate and an injection of $100 into her Edusave account, a pretty decent amount for a Primary 2 student. 

To Tong’s surprise and bitter disappointment, his daughter didn’t appear to be excited about the award, he wrote in a now-viral Facebook post. 

“It’s no big deal. It’s only $100,” she remarked when he asked how she was feeling about the prize. Even after he tried to reassure her that it’s the recognition (and not just the money) that matters, she kept repeating “it really is only a $100” over and over again. 

“I was quite disappointed,” wrote Tong. “And I began reflecting on how I had raised my daughter and how I was going to teach her about humility and gratitude and thankfulness and really what all this meant for larger society…” 

But just as he was about to impart some stern words of wisdom, he realised that he got it all wrong. His daughter wasn’t being ungrateful — she was just reading out loud what was printed on the cheque she got: “One hundred dollars only”. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/tong.yee.79/posts/10159319845737891[/embed]

In the end, Tong didn’t need to teach her gratitude. Instead, she just needed to be told that we need to write out the word “only” in cheques so that no one else can amend the amount declared. 

It’s a cute story that has seen hundreds of reactions and shares on Facebook — if only to show that not all zoomers are as ungracious or entitled as boomers might think. 

ilyas@asiaone.com