A couple of days ago, my daughter was bursting with excitement to sing me a new song that she had learnt in school. It was none other than one of my childhood favourites, Semoga Bahagia – May You Achieve Happiness. It brought back fond memories of Children’s Day celebrations in school when we would all sing the song in cheerful unison. Happiness and childhood, how simple it all seemed. But recently, I came across a short yet poignant film by NTUC Income, based on this very song and it put many things into perspective for me.
The film initially seemed like a story about a normal, happy, family - doting parents, a happy child, outings, presents and a lot of happiness. But alas, a cloud of gloom was cast upon the pretty picture when the film unraveled the mother as a cancer patient. It then showed the father doing his best to sustain his daughter’s happiness. He did all the things they used to do, albeit with his wife focusing on her recovery. The part of the story that struck me the hardest was when he gifted his daughter a piano, and said to his wife:
Things would have turned out differently if we weren’t covered.
Those words will stay with me for a long time. I lay in bed that night thinking about how even in the most trying of times, the parents had ensured that their child continued to experience happiness, in every possible way.
Happiness. Such a simple word yet one that is so profound. As parents, above all, we want our children to be happy. But how do we ensure that their life is filled with happiness? More importantly, how do we ensure that our precious children continue to find and maintain happiness in the long run, come what may?
The answer lies in these three words – effort, foresight and planning.
Effort
Parenting has evolved over the years. Today, parents are placing greater emphasis on their child's happiness, moving from raising dutiful children to happy children.
Happiness is not just about achieving good grades, finding a stable job and growing up to be filial children. The world has changed and with it comes a plethora of opportunities and experiences that await children.
Children are encouraged to play more and to feel less academic pressure. They are taught to experience different things, to express themselves and be decision-makers from a young age.
As such, we parents need to place greater emphasis on our children’s breadth of experiences. Travelling, cultural experiences, learning new languages, cultivating hobbies and interests, sports and enrichment lessons, pottery, cooking lessons – pretty much anything that allows them to see the world through different lenses and learning new things take precedence.
It takes time and effort to provide these experiences. It also requires presence, for we need to experience all of these along with our children, or stand at the side and cheer them on. In addition, children also need affirmation. Celebrating their small wins, milestones, and of course, bigger achievements with treats, gifts and family dinners all go a long way for their happiness.
Besides time and effort, parents do not immediately think of another important factor required to sustain their child’s happiness – money. While money can’t buy happiness, our children are financially reliant on us. As such, we need to set aside sufficient funds for these experiences for our children, within our means of course!
Foresight
When it comes to raising children, parents always need to look ahead, in every sense of the word. Most parents have foresight when it comes to saving for their child’s future. They have set aside a significant amount of money for things like university fees and wedding expenses. Having the foresight to protect a child’s happiness should be no different.
What do we mean?
Watching your child smile in happiness is the prettiest picture you can paint but in an instant, a dark cloud can obscure the beauty of it.
Life in the now can be beautiful, but we must not lose sight of the fact that we are a phone call away from a diagnosis that can upend our entire world, or a moment away from a catastrophe. A sudden and unexpected illness, disability or even death in the family can rob our children of their happiness.
We cannot assume that we will always be able to provide for our children the way we do now. Any of the above-mentioned unforeseen circumstances would mean a disruption of income.
What is the impact of disruption of income on things like birthday parties, swimming courses, travelling, gifts and movies among other things? While these may seem unimportant in the greater scheme of things, they are things that children look forward to, and contribute to your child’s happiness. Even more so than ever, when times are bad, these things can help alleviate some of the anxiety that children may face.
We have all heard stories of families that lost everything they had to finance astronomical medical bills. Don’t be that family. You need to have foresight of the many things that can go wrong.
Planning
With foresight comes planning. While we can’t stop the inevitable, we can prepare for it. When planning all the wonderful things we can do to make our children happy, we mustn’t forget to plan for when things go wrong.
The biggest threat to our children’s happiness lies in us not having coverage for the unfortunate events in life. In some cases, these unfortunate events aren’t as serious and the impact is temporary. A fractured leg, about of dengue - that passes. But life has a way of taking the world you know and shaking it apart when you least expect it. What happens in the event of serious and permanent unfortunate events such as a critical illness, total permanent disability or even death for that matter? A life insurance plan for us ensures that our children’s happiness isn’t disrupted, at least, not entirely.
With no coverage, heavy treatment costs and recovery periods may mean having to deprive a child of all the little things that once brought them happiness - and that would be the last thing a parent would want to do. You don’t want to be caught in a financial situation, where you have to choose between necessities and nice-to-haves. Imagine having to see your child forego all the little things that made them happy, in addition to the emotional distress, confusion and uncertainty of what you are going through.
That’s why we need to plan ahead. We need to ensure that we don’t compromise on the everyday things that make our children happy. We need to ensure that we will always have the financial means to support our loved ones and provide what makes them happy, no matter what life throws at us. We need to safeguard their happiness and having coverage does exactly that.
A life insurance plan can protect your family’s finances through payouts, to ensure that whatever you have been doing for your child’s happiness doesn’t go in vain.
At the end of the day, we all want our children to be happy. As I watch my child sleep peacefully, I can doze off in peace knowing that I’ve done my best to make her happy, every single day. I know that I’ve played with her, read to her, bought her that little Elsa doll that she wanted so badly, travelled the world with her, watched her ballet lessons, had lunch with her at her favourite pizzeria to celebrate her full marks for spelling, and the list goes on. Most importantly, I know that in the unfortunate event that something happens to me, her life will go on, with as much normalcy as possible, because I have a backup plan – I have gotten myself the best coverage within my means to protect her against future disruptions to her happiness. You should too.
Remember, you can protect your child’s happiness with a life insurance plan for yourself by ensuring you won’t have to put a pause on providing what makes your child happy! Take the first step now by finding out which life insurance plans by NTUC Income can be catered to suit your financial planning needs.