This week’s syndicated Super-Couponing Tips column is entitled “The costs of raising children.” Here’s an excerpt:
“Dear Jill,
You’re a parent. How do you keep up with what others are doing for their kids?
My son plays baseball. He’s very good and isn’t content to play for our park’s team anymore as many of his friends are moving up to the travel team. The travel team costs almost $1,000 to play for the season. The other parents are pressuring us to sign him up. My daughter’s friends go to a yoga class on Saturdays and she wants to attend. The class is $20 each week. These kids are 9 — I didn’t think it would be so expensive. I don’t think we can afford to commit to spending that every week. How do you juggle what your kids are allowed to do and what you will pay for?”
Read this entire column at NWItimes.com.
My Super-Couponing Tips column appears in newspapers around the country to a weekly readership of over 20 million people! Learn more about my column’s syndication at this link.
Miss a column? Here’s an archive of all of my past columns I’ve shared on the blog.
wolverine70 says
What a wonderful and useful column! While it’s wonderful that there is so much more offered for kids, the costs can become a real issue. Better to be honest with ourselves as well as our kids on the costs and limits than to create financial issues for the family. Thanks so much for taking this topic up, Jill!
Coupon Maven says
I appreciate your comment — reader reaction’s been interesting to this one so far..! This column runs nationally in 150+ newspapers, so I am hearing reactions from both sides. Many people agree that parents need to do what’s best (financially) for the family vs. going in debt to support the costs of their children’s sports or interests. I’ve heard from a few that feel this column was way out of line, and it’s parents’ job” to fulfill all of their children’s dreams, whatever the costs — “why would you want to hold your child back?” has been a common theme with those.
I plan to print some of them in a follow-up column…
Kristy says
Well, I’d like to say that I’m surprised to hear that you’re getting negative responses to your perfectly reasonable advice, however, if you’ve ever read any of the articles by Amy Dacyczyn on this topic you know that there is a certain segment of the population that feels the need to sacrifice their financial well being for their kids. They seem to be offended by any implication that another way might be just as good or better. Have you been called a child abuser yet? You know you’re really doing the frugal thing right once you’ve been called a child abuser for dressing your kid in used clothing, giving them second hand toys, feeding them out of a garden, and sending them to public school!