I'll need a second mortgage to pay for all this [shock]

[emkana]

I have just worked out that

Ballet lessons X 2
Swim lessons X 2
French lessons X 2
violin lessons for dd1

will cost me £ 330 a term!

Nearly a grand a year!

F*ING HELL!!!

did I sound too much like pushy mum then?

thanks for that.

I've got 2 x dd. how old are your kids so i can see if i've got time to start saving

They are six and nearly four.

I'm trying to think of ways of reducing this, but dd1 is doing Ballet and French already and really enjoying it, doesn't seem fair to deny dd2 the same. Swim lessons essential life skill IMO. And learning an instrument also great...

oh dear. again

good thing dds are 2 and 3 ~ little bit of saving time yet

Well French and violin during school hours, so nothing to do with me in that sense.

Ballet - Sat morning, dh takes.

So it's only going to be swimming after school, so I'm hoping I can cope with that. (They haven't started that yet, so I'll have to see.)

I was going to say that learning a language is always good, as is learning an instrument. Swimming important life skill yup (speaking as someone with a soggy house in yorkshire ), so really only ballet as an extra. And that is exercise and i guess will improve poise and posture for later life.

going onto mumsnet local to find my closest lessons then

It comes and goes, don't worry. Ours had swimming lessons for about 2 years, then stopped, then a year later had them free at school age 7 so that expense has gone. French they do at school from age 5 or 6... actualy may be these are ways private schools are cheaper than people think but we do pay for an instrumental lesson - the older children all learned and it was good for them. Money well spent.

I suppose children are just expensive and it's better spending on that than alcohol or a fancy dress and shoes.

oh yes I am sure it is cheaper to send them to private school to get their french lessons rather than pay for an hour a week

don't forget to add in the cost of materials for these activities. The stuff needed costs a lot as well.

Lessons in a modern foreign language will be part of the primary school curriculum from 2010.

sounds about right !

Hi, sounds about right to me! I'm also not a pushy mum but both my ds and dd do extra curricular activities which they asked to join!

We have

swimming x 2
Ballet/modern/tap
Karate (inc self defence)
Football
music lessons (guitar)

my ds is 8 and my dd is 3. With the cost of karate gi, belts and exams, football kit, pads, boots, ballet pumps, tap shoes etc my children are costing me a small fortune but as someone who didn't have the opportunity to have all this as a child I love being able to offer this all to them.

CGM x

Personally, I think that children do too many after school activities. As a teacher, I see so many kids who are basically at full stretch with all their after school things and who don't spend enough time on the essentials like their reading and other homework.- there really is no need- they have years and years to try things out- why not just stick to one and see if they take to it? I do think there is an element of keeping up with the Jones now- my kids are now grown up and when they were little there simply wasn't so much of this. I know that this may not be a popular post, but I sometimes question the value of kids doing too many activities, when half the time it's the parents who want them to do them.

DS just does one activity on a SAt morn and recently I suggested we did the same activity on a Wed eve. Honestly he looked so tired I thought sod it. I agree 1 or maybe 2 activities.

emkana - weekly swimming at age 4 is a waste of time.

Wait until children are six and then have them do a one week intensive course during the holidays (and repeat for different strokes). Take children swimming yourself for fun and incidental practice.

I have my doubts about the benefits of French lessons too - I'm bringing my daughter up bilingually, since her father is French and we live in Paris, but I can't see the point of monolingual English children in England doing the odd French lesson. Save the money for exchanges and trips to France when they are older - it will be more valuable.

I think that ballet is age appropriate and fun for a six and four year old. Violin - not sure at all unless they are quite musical. Piano or singing would seem better value long term.

I don't agree that a weekly swimming lesson is a waste of time. Mine have had them since they were 6 months old.To me learning water safety and being a strong swimmer is a must.

Over the years I have paid for
Piano x2
ballet
followed by gymnsastics
trampolining
French x 2
Swimming x 2
Brownies
Cubs/scouts x 2
I don't think any of it has been a waste of time.
Piano and swimming has helped DS who has dyslexic traits because both of them use left and right side of the brain.

Gymnastics and ballet have helped DD to strenghthen her ankles, she was born with positional talipes.

They also get a sense of achievement from getting badges etc

At the moment it is just swimming, french at school for DD, trampolining for DS and Brownies/Cubs for DD (she is both) and Scouts for DS. It was worth the money to see the enjoyment he got from the mudbath of silver buckle camp he had this weekend.

Surely the swimming lessons will be a short term thing - ie until they have learned to swim then you take them yourself or they join a swimming club with coaches etc and then you spend your life getting up at 5am for swim training
£330 a term doesn't sound too bad for all those activities, have you factored in the petrol to get them there and back each week, that might really make you swear!

Anna, I doubt Emkana's children are monolingual, given she's from Germany...

no its not. DS has had swimming lessons for 11 years, he has had the choice of joining a club but doesn't want to. He is doing his silver medal at the moment and will go on to do life safety next and eventually the bronze medallion. There is still a lot to learn even if you don't want to be a club racing. Swimming lessons are not just about swimming up and down for half an hour.
I went back to having lessons 4 years ago and I am still learning new skills.Most people never learn to breath properly, it makes a huge difference to stamina etc

If they are now six and nearly four (and I think there's another little one?), just wait until they get older...

I'm actually surprised your total isn't much higher, looking at the cost of say swimming and instrument lessons where I live.

We deliberately held off from our 3 doing too many activities, we just didn't think children really need, or indeed should, be doing too many things.

As they got older, they have all found things that they really enjoy and are good at, and that's where the costs have now escalated! Teenagers also have more hectic social lives, so don't wear yourself out being a taxi service when they are young!

For our eldest, a 'hobby' of one instrument 2 years ago very quickly developed into a passion and likely career. The two instruments she is learning 'properly' (she also has informal and cut-price lessons on a 3rd instrument with a friend of ours), cost well over £1000 a year, so beware of what a nice little hobby may lead to!

The dd's are bilingual (English and German).

French is offered in school hours and given that many of her class mates were doing it dd1 was desperate to have a go herself. It felt mean not to let her, and she's really enjoying it.

Swimming lessons - I'm a bit doubtful about these myself, I learned to swim from my father and never had lessons as such (just swimming in school), I'm not a great swimmer though, so maybe proper lessons would have done me good?

Ballet, again, dd1 was desperate to do this and she really enjoys it. Violin, a letter was in the book bag last week and dd1 really keen - she's just so enthusiastic for everything...

dd2 isn't actually doing any of these things as yet, but if and when she shows an interest then I don't see how I could deny her what I've allowed dd1 to do.