Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion How much?

About $50 a month. Like most people I know I limit the kids to one paid activity at a time. Ds6 does gym which averages at $77 every 10 week term. Ds3.5 does ballet at $60 for a 10 week term. Last term ds6 also did soccer for free through the school.

We have a similar rule to puffin - but one musical and one physical activity per child.

We've cut way back now that needs are actually being met at school. When school was a six hour marathon of boredom we spent a lot on enrichment.

I think an important thing to consider is just how important the activity (in the OP's case, the voice lessons) are to the child. In other words, just how badly is she wanting to do the activity?

For example, the other day I offered to take my DS out for frozen yogurt as a special treat. He said he wanted to go (who doesn't love frozen yogurt?!) but then, when it was time to go, wasn't eager to stop what he was doing. So, I asked him if he *really* wanted to go, and he was wishy-washy. So, together we made the decision that, if it wasn't something he *really* wanted to do, we would just save the money.

Obviously, the kinds of extracurriculars we are discussing here are much more expensive and long-term, but I think the same principle applies. I don't put too much stock in whether the activity has value long-term, but more in what my child gets out of it in the short-term. For example, I know my DD (or any of my kids, for that matter) won't be college athletes, but they both really love spending time with their friends playing sports (and I enjoy the comaraderie with the parents), they get exercise, and they learn about hard work (which they don't get in school), so the costs are worth it for now.

One caveat we have in our family: the disruptions to our family life have to feel worth it to us, as parents.

Also, we're lucky we're not having to choose activities based on how much we can afford, but we're definitely frugal-minded about most things. So, if we're on the fence about how important an activity is or how much someone wants to do it, we definitely won't pay for it.

ETA: I don't know if I answered your original question - sorry! Personally, we're all over the place with expenses. One child has only one very low cost activity, while another has several mid-level costs activities, and the third has several mid-level cost activities plus a few more-expensive camps. So, in our family, we don't have a hard-and-fast rule or limit, which I think was part of your original question. Ours is an ever-changing, ever-reconsidering set of expenses.

I totally agree. The kids do have many interest and change quite often too. Most of the time, the kids wanted to do it for fun. A few times, they think they are good at it and probably compete in that sports/music, etc.. I set a limit on 1 music and 1 sports activity for my DDs. They are somewhat talented in music but not in sports. After one try out, you know that your kid has IT or not. If they do, I would have probably encouraged them to spend 1-2 hours a day practicig it and us spending a few hundreds or even a thousand $ a month.

Probably a good thing that they are not and all we spend is $200 for music lessions and $150 for gymnastics for 2 DDs.

Our DD8's activities (soccer, tumbling, theater) are currently running us around $110/mo, combined.

For us to commit $400/mo to a single activity, we'd have to see a similar commitment level from DD to the activity.

DD will be 8 this month. Yes, a great deal of care must be taken when training the voice and I trust this teacher very much. DD is singing age and range appropriate songs while learning theory, breath technique, and stage presence. Her piano teacher was teaching her singing and had to stop after 2 years because she had reached the end of what she could safely teach her. This is how we ended up with the audition for the new teacher.
Singing meets a deep need inside of her that we can't place a price tag on.
I wonder if this is a new thing we can cite to show parents that really gifted isn't "better." It's not better, it's just more expensive. LOL!

Yes!!! x 1,000,000 I totally get that. It's part of the fabric of her essence... you can't equate it to a superficial, material value.

How nice for you that this is clear rather than it being "um, I don't know... is it really for her? Not sure."


LOL

ITA with this.


and this. I'm part of the family, too. I get a vote. Thrice weekly practice/games for a sport my kid doesn't care much about is a hard pill to swallow. (Side vent: why are sports so heavy on the commitment these days? I know I had only one practice a week when I played soccer at age 9!)

For a few of the coaches in my DD8's league, it's because it's not about the kids, it's about the coach and his need to win... nevermind that it's a developmental league and they don't keep score...

DD's team practices once a week.