Reply to What makes kids so expensive?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would say the most expensive parts are actually "optional" expenses.

1) You can choose to let your kids dance and travel sports teams take over your lives and expenses in hopes that they will be part of the .0001% that "make it" as a pro....OR you can treat their sport as just that, an extracurricular activity that keeps you busy on the weekends.

2) Most around here shove their kids into expensive summer camps from June 15-August 15th, thus taking away their "right of passage" of having a summer where all they do is go to the pool and hang out with friends.

these two things alone will suck the life out of your life savings.[/quote]

Sort of, not really - depends on the circumstances.

RE dance and sports (and I lump music into this category):  If you have a kid who is passionate about something, and/or is very talented at it, it feels very wrong to forgo that activity because of money (assuming that you can make it work).  My son is a very talented cellist - his teacher and judges at competitions have deemed his talent "extraordinary."  His musical activities are extremely expensive:  We spend $80/week for private lessons; $3-4K/summer for camps; and $1,000/year for youth orchestra fees (not including tickets to performances).  His instrument cost $5,000 (the bow another $1,000) and he will need to upgrade in the next year or two.

Are these expenses optional?  Of course.  Will we eventually get them back in some way (scholarships, etc.)?  Unlikely.  Would we opt out of all of this and save thousands per year?  No, because the impact on his quality of life and experience of his childhood and adolescence would be significant.

RE "shoving" kids into summer camps:  If you work during the summer, you need to have your kids in an organized childcare situation of some kind or another.  You can hire a babysitter and let them have their "rite of passage" (?) summer hanging at the pool with friends, except that (1) babysitters are expensive and this would likely be more expensive than summer camps; and (2) pool memberships are expensive, too; and (3) their friends are probably not at the pool - they are in summer camps.[/quote]

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