Anyone else's kids got extremely expensive hobbies?

[bjorni9]

What started as a casual club, has turned into a lifestyle. Mountain biking, 4x, bmx freestyle, bmx racing. It has saved my ND child's sanity, and drained my bank account. I buy and sell and work so much overtime just so we can continue. It is far better than any play therapy or council funded clubs we've ever received (especially for his mh and mood). Anyone else making big sacrifices for their kids' hobbies? If only football would've stuck!

I had the BMX for a while. Luckily it’s the same time as swimming now and they can only do one, and swimming is much more sensible.
However, my littlest is really really into theatre. He goes to a 3 hour theatre class every Saturday, does an hour of singing every week. He has exams coming up that we have to pay for. We have to pay for costume hire, tickets to see the shows, the correct uniform, the right shoes. extra reversals, pay for the script hire, the correct make up, the wigs.
Costs an absolute fortune, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, as his confidence is soaring.

Pathetic is a really odd choice of word here. Especially if your user name is referring to the Olympian. Most good parents would make sacrifices for the happiness, wellbeing and future prospects of their children. I imagine Tessa Sanderson’s parents did too.
I haven’t gone into debt, but I have done some side hustling to afford drama classes for my DCs. It has paid off because they are now earning much more than I have spent by doing a couple of TV ads per year.

Oh my days - yes this! My son was there for more hours than my 3 day a week office job. Insane commitment. Not brilliant for his anxiety and the social side of the team sport he went on to after leaving has been great for him. Plus it's volunteer led so it's waaaaaaay cheaper.

Ice hockey and bagpiping. I live quite rurally and the travel to some of the competitions and matches can take from 4-9 hours to travel too, and then there’s hotels, food, equipment. Mine is a young teen now and it’s keeping him off the streets with his mates which can only be a good thing.
This month alone for ice hockey I’ve had to pay for a new strip £100, hotel £200, fees £150 along with the normal membership fees. Not taking into account the fuel and meals. Luckily it’s a cheap month with the bagpipes this month.

Who cares how much it costs if you can afford it?

You can't take the money with you - you get no interest from the bank for keeping it there.

So if you have it spend it on your kids and enjoy watching them do what they do.

Waiting for all the dance mums to appear on this thread lol as that can just about eat up money if they get into shows, contests, all the costumes etc are often custom made, plus the cost of what seems to spiral into multiple lessons every week of all different styles of dance....

Horses and ice hockey.

I will never be rich.

Ultimately pretty much all hobbies become more expensive as they get more proficient as even something seemingly 'free' if they are doing it to any sort of decent level they will run through expensive running shoes quite regularly, potentially pay running club fees, need better quality gear to run in as they're doing a lot etc.

If you want to support your child to properly progress at something eventually you have to invest in the better quality equipment/coaching whether thats more expensive club athletic coaching, a better violin and private tuition, or decent quality art supplies for a budding artist.

I think some people imagine that kids can just try lots of different hobbies 'for fun' and you can avoid stuff like exams/competitions/more expensive lessons and keep just doing it at the 'just for fun!' level... You can, but it gradually stops being so fun if your peers are all starting to get lots better at it as they are taking it more seriously and progressing to more advanced levels.

A friend very much wanted her kids hobbies to remain at the 'just for fun' level and actively avoided any increase in classes/exams /tournaments etc... The result was the kids chopped and changed through loads of different hobbies and never got any real proficiency and by mid teens had abandoned all of it and did nothing at all.

Polo?! Are you insane? This has got to be one of the most expensive sports in the world!

Motor Racing is another one - apparently the best way to end up with a small fortune if you're in to motor racing is to start with a large one. A season of F3 is getting on for £1m a year

Mine does rowing, and that's ruinous enough with seat fees, trips to regattas, food etc but I'm aware it could be worse.

Doing music actually provides the DC with an easy and satisfying social group for life. That's one of the big advantages of it. Another is that they can do it as a career if they're good enough. In our case, DC also got lots of lessons free of charge and it funded most of their private school education.

This is the most middle class MN thread in the history of middle class MN threads 😂.

Whilst it's lovely for the families with £10k+ spare to spend on kids hobbies a year, it's a little worrying if this is effectively required to access junior age sport at a competitive level as it rules out the majority of kids. I'd hoped sport had started to become less elite, but perhaps not.

Our local (highly regarded) professional theatre has a youth theatre that's less than £300 a year for classes, and often leads to other opportunities. Subsidies for those who need it. Far better quality of teaching than the local kids theatre clubs and about a quarter of the price.

When our DCs were in a church choir, they were paid for it. So they got a good musical training and pocket money too. And they sang in amateur musicals, which was free apart from petrol to get to rehearsals. There are some great hobbies which don't cost anything.

DS5 is absolutely F1 mad. He can begin training at 6, which he turns in a few months. I am silently hoping he isn't that good at it as I've started researching the costs and it is horrific...

DS9 does stagecoach and an instrument which is expensive enough...

Children can join a brass band free of charge. They do lots of concerts and young people often get to a high level, sometimes moving on to conservatoire.

Horses and photography.

Team/squad swimming and artistic swimming 🆘

@Yetanotherone12, we are in the US. Here, your child either plays on a recreation team or a travel team. Recreational team has perhaps one practice and one game per week and, while you travel for the match, it is in-state (and a small area of the state, a league involving teams perhaps in a two hour driving distance). Travel team is more serious, probably three practices and a match each week, and the travel is outside the state. So, from where we live in DC, we might be flying to Florida one week, Michigan the next, up-state New York the next. And, as games are on Saturday, that frequently means flying on Friday and staying in a hotel.
I realize it is confusing as, yes, recreational teams travel too.

I feel sad about the financial barriers to accessing sports. For example - we live in a coastal area & I wish all kids could be strong & confident in the sea.

There are local surf lifesaving clubs that are amazing, but a) you need a parent to be able to get you to the beach b) you need a wetsuit c) if you actually want to get serious and compete you will need your own board - £1.5k plus a vehicle that can transport it and what about a surfski too, another £1.5k minimum. Then of course you have to think about Accommodation for competitions & travel costs.

just one example. The other sport my kids have been in that has been ££££ to excel
is horse riding…

Someone told me it would be cheaper too. It definitely is not!

We spend over £30k a year (and then some) on one pony (now horse). It has a way of snowballing! And that’s without the cost of actually buying it.

One of my children started a harmless little Saturday morning dance class - several years later we were driving them up to London once a month to the Royal Ballet school associate programme and 2 years after that they became a border at White Lodge in Richmond Park, later progressing to the Upper School at Covent Garden
Fortunately it was means-tested for the £15k pa fees but it did rather take over our lives and pockets and the lives of their siblings

My in-laws did this the whole of DH and DSiL’s childhood to make dingy sailing competitively work for them financially. It’s not a bad idea

Fair. As I say, working from secondhand experience here...

My son does taekwando and it's very affordable - £40 a month for 3 times a week training plus some kit and competition fees (optional). Football was very affordable when he did that.

Dance... is not at the level my daughter is doing. She has a friend who would love to join her on the comp team but it's just not possible. It's not at pony owning level but it's thousands over the year.

If you look at the Olympics you can see a million barriers to most of the sports. I don't know anyone who skis regularly or have any idea how one might find a luge track or a polo pony... loads of Olympic sports are for very privileged people - financially for sure but also logistically.

Cheerleading ... amazing for tumbling/stunting/dance/teamwork/confidence/self esteem/etc ... but so expensive at the higher levels where she travels internationally to compete as well

Ice skating and dancing, including pointe for ballet and occasional competitions.

Thankfully I can sew so I make her competition dresses. Her feet are hopefully about to stop growing so skates will be replaced when they break down rather than every time she goes up a size.

My sister runs an associate programme so I don't pay for that monthly day.

And she's just started at a musical theatre group.