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越来越多的老师感到孩子们的零花钱是一个棘手的问题。并不是说拥有零花钱本身不对，但是他们用零花钱在校门口小卖部买的零食却始终不怎么令人放心。而孩子们从家长那里拿到的钱也只涨不落，与其说是孩子从家长手里拿的，倒不如说是家长给孩子的。由于孩子寄宿在学校，家长们的所有关心与爱护就寄托在了每周的几块零花钱上了。但是孩子们一直有个习惯，就是把自己的零花钱交给老师保管，想用的时候再到老师那里拿。结果到头来，最后增加工作量的是各位班主任们，经常为了5毛1块钱头疼，于是这种不合情理的零花钱机制就越来越接近被改革。

存钱盒的想法在这种情况下就很自然的呼之欲出了。杨校长和孙老师先让村里的木匠做了几个木头盒子，然后漆成了红色，算是完成了基础工作，之后工作的主角就成为了孩子。于是前几天的一天晚上，我端着一个油漆还没干的盒子走进了三年级的教室。第一个问题算是给他们设了个小“局”，“你们一个大礼拜都从家拿多少零花钱？写在纸上，然后告诉我！”于是38个数字被写在了黑板上，多致7，8块，少致1，2块。“各组算各组的，每个组总共是多少钱？”最后四个组加起来的数字是137块。
“那一个月是多少？”“274”
“一个学期呢？”“1370”——班里开始有同学发出了轻微的惊叹声；
“一年呢？”“2740”——更大声的惊叹。
“咱们全校6个年级一年呢？”——还没算，孩子们就已经发出了震惊的叫喊声。

一万六千多元对一个小学生而言，足以震撼他的心灵。我接着问他们：“那我们为什么要让这么数目庞大的一笔钱白白地流给了小卖部？我们一定要花这个钱么？”这时候突然有一个同学站出来喊：“老师我们不应该花这么多钱！”“好，那么我们该怎么办？”这个问题放出来之后，有点一发不可收拾的感觉，所有人都开始大声喊叫。而最后一节课下来的成果是孩子们将这个盒子设为班级公基金，一学期下来看看大家存了多少钱，之后打开盒子，把这些钱拿来给大家做好事，比如买书，买体育器材，买电脑，甚至捐给灾区，帮助残疾人，孩子们善良的童心在此刻完全展露。“老师，这个盒子的红颜色意思是有爱心！”有位孩子向我提出了她的想法，没错，我们就叫它“爱心小盒”吧。

( Translated by Kelie Zhang, Edited by NK Wong)

More and more school teachers think that children’s pocket money is becoming a veritable headache. There’s nothing wrong

with having pocket money, but it is the fact the money steadily winds up in the hands of on-campus snack stores which

proves to be worrisome. Chinese children now have access to more and more money given by parents which they don’t even

have to ask for. This is especially true for children living in a boarding school. For some, pocket money is often seen as

a token of love and care from the parents. Conventionally, children are in the habit of entrusting the money to their

school teachers for safekeeping, and when they need it, they ask it from the teachers. Ultimately, it’s the teachers who

have the luxury of handling this extra burden, besieged by the stacks of bills and coins. Certainly, a change is needed for

this archaic monetary system.

Money boxes are one possible solution. Mr. Yang, the school principal, and Mr. Sun, a staff teacher, asked some local

carpenters to make some wooden boxes and paint them red. The children were then to become the main players. Some evenings

ago, I held a newly made box to some 3rd graders and asked a seemingly easy question with a little twist, “How much pocket

money did you get from home last week? Please write the amount on a piece of paper and let me know!” I copied on the board

38 different numbers ranging from highs like 7-8 to lows like 1-2. The total amount turned out to be 137 RMB.

“If you 3rd graders get 137 RMB each week, what about a whole month?”
“274!” the children answered.
“What about a semester?”
“1,370!” There was clearly an element of surprise in this answer.
“A year?”
“2,740!” Bigger tone of surprise.
“What about all six grades in our whole school for a year?”
This time, there wasn’t any answer but only a unanimous outburst of amazement.

16,000 RMB is a big number to an elementary schooler. Then, I asked, “Why should we spend this huge amount of money on

snacks? Do we absolutely have to?” All of a sudden, I heard someone shout, “We shouldn’t spend this much of money!”

“Okay. Then what should we do?” This question opens up a bigger discussion. The excited children shouted out their

answers. The ultimate resolution was that the red box would serve as a penny bank fund for the whole class to see how much

money that the pupils could save each semester. Then, they could decide to use this money to promote everybody’s welfare.

For example, they could use this money to buy books, sports facilities, and computers. The money could also go into

donations for communities that are more in need, or support for the disabled. The kindness in the children was fully

revealed.

“Teacher, the box is red because red symbolizes the color of heart, kindness, and love!” A pupil gave me her insights.

So this was the story of the “box of love”.