To make DS pay for school trip?

[AtSea1979]

DS wants to go on a school trip in year 8. It's to Europe and it's £700 would you expect your DC to contribute? He's been saving for a Switch console. Should I make him choose? Or do jobs? Or sacrifice Xmas presents and birthday? (Although I'd still end up buying stuff for him to open). Or would you just pay for it all?

When I was in Year 10 some of us did a two-week French exchange which cost about £350 in today's money. One girl who went on it, whose parents weren't particularly well off, said that she had no birthday or Christmas presents that year as the trip was her only present.

I wouldn't expect my children to give up all their presents or to pay for the whole thing themselves, but I would probably make them do some extra jobs around the house and, for an expensive trip, perhaps get them to make some kind of financial contribution or have a bit of a reduction in the number of presents. I'm quite keen for them to go on trips, however, as they can be a lot of fun and very memorable (I still remember all the ones I went on with school quite well).

£700 for a trip to Europe? sorry no advice on what to do with who pays for it but I'd be asking the school for a breakdown of costs! That's is extortionate! My school trips to France/Germany/Greece cost nowhere near that (went to a very shitty school in terms of average expected GCSE grades) and it was because the cost was low that my parents were able to pay for it. Otherwise I would not have been able to go

For those parents who say they can't afford to pay for trips, so children have to earn the cash by working at chores - how do they afford to pay the children for the chores?

Chores are something children do because they are part of the household, and need to contribute to it being a comfortable and civilised place to live. Linking chores to money seems a bit odd. What if a child decides that, actually, they don't want/need the £3.50 or whatever you decide to pay for mowing the lawn as much as they want to go off with their mates for the afternoon?

£600 for the French trip included flights to Montpellier, 15 hours tuition at language school, sightseeing trips in the city, accommodation with a host family who provided breakfast and dinner, sandwich lunch provided by the language school, travel pass for Montpellier. Seemed great value for 6 days to me. I'm planning a language school trip to France for myself next year!

All of my children have done similar course's to Cromwell's child in Montpelier & really benefitted from the time in France. The two who have had their results got As & they also had the experience of traveling independently in a foreign city. DS getting an A* was a real shock for everyone & I don't think he'd have agreed to tutoring.