NEW YORK CITY — When I was a little kid, anything expensive, fancy and/or valuable in the house was Saran Wrapped and forbidden to be touched by me and my brother — lest we wanted our hands cut off by my dad. We didn’t want to test him; he was scary, and seemed crazy enough to do it.

I remember getting a 27-inch TV in the living room when I was 12 and watching him Saran Wrap the screen and the remote control, and only letting my brother and I use it under his supervision. Now you have to understand that my dad is horrible at reading instructions, let alone in English. So whom does he call to translate (and I use that term loosely) the instructions? Yours truly. There is nothing more infuriating than trying to explain to a stubborn man how to use a remote control to set the TV when he doesn’t even let you touch the damn buttons — not even the power button! I can still remember gritting through my teeth: “APPA, IT’S THE BUTTON OVER THERE. NO, DAD, THAT ONE. NO, THE RED ONE. UGH, LET ME DO IT! I CAN DO IT. IT’S JUST A BUTTON! LISTEN TO ME! I PROMISE I WON’T DROP IT! I’M 12 YEARS OLD! I’M NOT A BABY!” This went on the whole afternoon and night.

Jane, with her Saran Wrapped iPod, is further evidence that children really do end up to be like their parents.

Back in those days, I would quickly move the remote from its precarious position on the sofa cushion to the coffee table when hearing the car pull into the driveway. Or threatening my brother that I would tell my dad that he dropped the remote if he didn’t change it back from “Baywatch” to the New Kids On The Block special.

I still come home to find my dad Saran Wrapping the new space-age oven with buttons rather than knobs. And don’t get me started on the computer or the refrigerator. With all the Saran Wrapped valuables that haunted me as a kid, I still turn into a 12-year-old when I enter my parents’ house and see the Saran Wrap out. But, as an adult on my own, I thought I had left all the Saran Wrapped traumas behind me.

So what was I supposed to do when my husband gave me a brand new Photo iPod for my birthday? Being too cheap and lazy to buy an iPod case and not wanting it to get all scratched up, I did Mr. Kim proud and took out the Saran Wrap. My husband shook his head in disbelief, muttered, “Only you can take something so fancy and make it that tacky,” and laughed.

Jane, with her Saran Wrapped iPod, is further evidence that children really do end up to be like their parents.

And my response to him: “Honey, do you want me to do that to yours?”

— Jane Kim-Savage