Are cheap/ free days out only really accessible to the better off?

[womaninatightspot]

Took the kids down to the loch today for a swim/ picnic in the late afternoon sun. Whilst technically free apart from a little bit of petrol, we seemed to have a lot of stuff. UV suits, beach shoes, shorty wetsuits, bouyancy aid, lifejacket, paddleboard.

My mum was a single parent on benefits for most of our childhood. I grew up on a council estate and we hardly went anywhere on daytrips not even to "free" places like the beach. The exception being every few years when the council would fund a scheme to take deprived children out and about

Is it the stuff that holds people back? The cost of traveI? I grew up in Edinburgh so lots of free places a bus ride away. I didn't make it to lots of places like the botanical gardens or the Dean gallery until I was an adult. I totally take my kids though.

Some cheap/free days out are definitely out of reach for people because of the cost of equipment/travel, but I wouldn't say that's the case with all cheap/free days out.

Well, you can go to the beach with none of that stuff, so that’s not it.

Transport is a big one. You say ‘a bit of petrol’ but the car in the first place is the biggie.

Confidence and enthusiasm is another. If you’ve got very limited money you might need to be guaranteed bang for your buck, cos if it doesn’t work out you’ve wasted your one chance. Researching ‘free stuff’ was harder pre-internet.

I think there's more to it. I remember visiting a school in a very poor area and being told the children didn't even go to the very nice park that was about a mile away.

'You say ‘a bit of petrol’ but the car in the first place is the biggie.'

Yep. And being able to drive. Lessons are expensive.

I grew up in London, no car and parents who couldn't drive so any kind of beach/forest/countryside activity was out.

It must depend where you live, in London kids get a zip card with travel capped to max £1.50 a day & free use of buses. Almost all the museums here are free to enter. If you’re happy to get the bus rather than the tube you can have a big day out with the kids for the cost of an adult bus fare. I do understand not everywhere is the same as London before I get shouted at!

@StillWeRise

I think there's more to it. I remember visiting a school in a very poor area and being told the children didn't even go to the very nice park that was about a mile away.

I agree. A friends works in a very deprived area literally a 10 minute walk from the river. She said it’s shocking how many children spend the whole summer holidays inside the flats they live in and have never even seen the river.

There is definitely more to it than money. We live in a well off area in an outer London borough, I’m amazed by the number of my daughter’s friends who have never been to any of the museums, parks, or seen things like Big Ben & Buckingham Palace. some have only been to central London on school trips - we are 14 minutes away by train & these are not people that would struggle with the train fare.

Edinburgh here, spent my whole childhood pretty much at the museum or the botanics. Completely free, and both on bus routes although we usually walked. The museum canteen used to be incredibly cheap (bowl of jelly, 7p) but now it's wildly expensive. They do provide a picnic room though and there's endless shops nearby for cheap food.

It isn't the price. It's how people feel about it I think.

'It isn't the price. It's how people feel about it I think.'

I think it's a bit of both tbf.

The price is a major factor for lots of people.

Also, how people feel about it will be influenced by money as well. You're probably less in the mood for the botanical gardens if you've just finished a night shift and you're stressed about how you're going to pay the rent/getting ready to go to your second job.

@MorrisZapp

Edinburgh here, spent my whole childhood pretty much at the museum or the botanics. Completely free, and both on bus routes although we usually walked. The museum canteen used to be incredibly cheap (bowl of jelly, 7p) but now it's wildly expensive. They do provide a picnic room though and there's endless shops nearby for cheap food.

It isn't the price. It's how people feel about it I think.

I spent most of my childhood in the local library lost in the fiction section. I went on my own though or with my siblings. Children roamed more in the 80s.

Yes, I think time is a massive factor. If you only get 1 day off a week & you’ve got to fit the shopping, washing, tidying up, paying the rent sorting out xyz you won’t have the time to be doing a lot of the days out stuff

The car was necessary (although I can walk to the beach so it's truly free) you didn't need the rest of the stuff except basic swimwear - it's still 22 here and water is warm enough. It's nice to have a paddle board but hardly essential

No, I don't think it's about being better off. I was a single mum for years in a council flat in London, our sole income was benefits. I took my DS out every weekend/school holidays to the museums, large parks, art galleries, and day trips to the seaside and attractions using Clubcard vouchers. I couldn't drive but transport is free for dc in London, and we had a family railcard so getting to the seaside or country wasn't a problem. We'd have seaside days out without much more than a swimsuit, towel and bucket & spade. Brought a packed lunch and had brought him up not to demand stuff from the gift shop so often we spent nothing except my own tube fare.

I do agree that it seems that many people from deprived areas don't venture far from their homes. It's not about not having the money though, it's a mindset. I know a lot of people who aren't especially poor but they still aren't interested in taking their dc to museums or galleries despite being free and easy to travel to. It's sad for the kids really, on our estate there would sometimes be free seaside coach trips which would be the only time some of them could go to the seaside.

It's definitely about both money and time. More about money though. With enough money you can ensure that your DC get to experience fun things even if you are at work.

Loads of factors.

Time - shift work etc

Resources (including kit or equipment as you said)

Health of parent and kids - we know poor health and disability intersect with poverty

Knowledge - so many times I've found out about free events at other free events!

Transport

Inclination / confidence / energy levels

Kid:adult ratio

I think my parents were so focused on feeding and clothing us they gave no thought to anything much beyond that. Neither could swim, and our only mode of transport was my father’s work van, which had no backseat or seatbelts and made us all carsick.

But actually I think in my childhood it was certainly also very much a matter of lack of confidence and knowledge. Our city had a free museum, art gallery and free concerts at the local school of music etc, but it would never have occurred to them to take us to any. They assumed they all cost money and ‘weren’t for the likes of us’. We lived not far from the university, which had a beautiful campus, and I remember being quite small and asking about it, and my mother saying it was only for students, and no one else was allowed in.

@gogohm

The car was necessary (although I can walk to the beach so it's truly free) you didn't need the rest of the stuff except basic swimwear - it's still 22 here and water is warm enough. It's nice to have a paddle board but hardly essential

I find my 6yo twins get cold pretty quickly (Scotland so maybe chillier and we were in the water till nearly 8) . Popping on a shorty and lifejacket on means we can can stay in the water for a couple of hours so it feels essential to me .

I know a paddleboard isn't essential but pretty much everyone at the loch had a paddleboard or an inflatable kayak. It was that which got me thinking that although the loch is "free" that there are barriers. A lack of public transport means that it mainly gets enjoyed by locals who can afford cars and tourists.

I don't know. We're skint but still manage days out: there is a park near us that has a beach area as well as an indoor soft play, a play area you can pay to get in but is only £2 or £3 per child and then there's another, free, play area at the other side of the lake. Occasionally they do events like "seaside" days and there's a bonfire event every year and they're free.

We're in the English Heritage and the National Trust and near me there are 4 or 5 properties where we can go for a picnic, a walk around and an ice cream and pay next to nothing but membership is roughly £10 p/m so I can see how some families might struggle to find that on top of other monthly bills.

Lack of money does stop us going to some places: there's the sculpture park not too far away that's free entry but you need a mortgage to pay for the car parking so we never bother. If we went on the bus it'd probably cost as much and take much longer to get there.

The zoo that's about 45 mins away from me is good but I'd have to sell a kidney to afford the entrance fees so we never go.

We rarely go to the seaside even though I love it there and don't take anything other than a picnic, a bucket and spade and a couple of towels but as you say, the cost of fuel puts us off.

People are limited by imagination, locating an old fire pit and cooing marshmallows, paddling in steams, building shelters in woodland, making a treasure hunt, rockpooling on the beach

There’s some stunning walks around too

@TwoZeroTwoZero

I don't know. We're skint but still manage days out: there is a park near us that has a beach area as well as an indoor soft play, a play area you can pay to get in but is only £2 or £3 per child and then there's another, free, play area at the other side of the lake. Occasionally they do events like "seaside" days and there's a bonfire event every year and they're free.

We're in the English Heritage and the National Trust and near me there are 4 or 5 properties where we can go for a picnic, a walk around and an ice cream and pay next to nothing but membership is roughly £10 p/m so I can see how some families might struggle to find that on top of other monthly bills.

Lack of money does stop us going to some places: there's the sculpture park not too far away that's free entry but you need a mortgage to pay for the car parking so we never bother. If we went on the bus it'd probably cost as much and take much longer to get there.

The zoo that's about 45 mins away from me is good but I'd have to sell a kidney to afford the entrance fees so we never go.

We rarely go to the seaside even though I love it there and don't take anything other than a picnic, a bucket and spade and a couple of towels but as you say, the cost of fuel puts us off.

I’m hazarding a guess you’re in the Wakefield area.

The parking at the sculpture park and entry for Yorkshire Wildlife park are far too expensive.

'People are limited by imagination, locating an old fire pit and cooing marshmallows, paddling in steams, building shelters in woodland, making a treasure hunt, rockpooling on the beach'

No amount of imagination is going to make those things easily accessible to someone living in poverty on a council estate in London. Be sensible.

A lot of the cheap/free stuff we have planned for this summer we can do because we've previously paid for the start up costs.

We can go camping because we have all the equipment... which is hundreds of pounds bought in one go (we've built it up over the years). Plus having the car, trailer and roof box.

We can go canoeing because we have the canoe, safety equipment and licence.

We can go to the zoo because we have season tickets.

Bike rides because we have bikes.

Spend hours in the pool... which we bought. And had the garden space to put it in.

The car to get us places.

@NuffSaidSam

'People are limited by imagination, locating an old fire pit and cooing marshmallows, paddling in steams, building shelters in woodland, making a treasure hunt, rockpooling on the beach'

No amount of imagination is going to make those things easily accessible to someone living in poverty on a council estate in London. Be sensible.

😂 I grew up on a council estate in Deptford (long before it was a ‘village’) if we’d set something on fire to roast marshmallows we’d have got a wallop from our mum, probably set the place on fire & almost definitely had the police round!

Let’s face it you can easily go to beach/Loch without a paddleboard and wetsuits and just not go fully in the water or stay till 8pm but I do get what you’re saying. Even a ‘free’ day out you need 101 different things, fuel or public transport and food for the day - I seem to spend a fortune every time I go for ‘picnic stuff’ and often it would have been cheaper just to get a McDonald’s on the way.