Affording Kids' Activities

Question: How much money do you allocate per child for your kids' extracurricular activities

Such as sports or music? I am very frugal and only one of my two kids is involved in an outside activity. But I can't help wondering if I'm being too frugal and should sign them up for more things. Part of the reason I don't is because those activities cost lots of money. What are your thoughts?

Answer: Every family’s situation is different. You have to decide what your priorities are and what you can afford. If an extracurricular activity is a high priority, then you may need to reduce spending somewhere else to afford it. We don’t know of any “formula” to help figure this out.

As a rule, we limit our kids to one outside activity at a time. They help pay for the activity through fund-raisers, chores or working for other families. If money is tight and your kids are young, approach the sponsoring organization and ask about scholarships — you may need to volunteer in exchange.

We've seen some families go overboard, enrolling their kids in numerous activities and keeping them busy every day of the week. This caused stress for the kids and great expense for the parents — often times the kids didn’t even want to be involved in the activity.

Children need help prioritizing choices and realizing that they can’t do everything they think they want to do. We only sign our kids up for an activity if they have expressed an interest for several months. Then we help them understand the costs and time involved.

Our daughter, Abbey, is a dancer with a 4H clogging group which costs $10 each month. We know there are other dance clubs that charge ten times that amount. Our focus is not the activity, but helping the kids discover things they are passionate about. These activities may become a vocation or a hobby for a lifetime.

Do what’s right for your family and children, not what everyone else is doing.

We have an audio seminar that deals with teaching kids to be not only responsible with their money, but also with their time. Click here to learn more