children- why do they cost so much?

rog2

sophiesmum wrote:

This week we have the letter stating what is "needed" for trip, wellies, waterproofs, etc, and no more than £200 per child pocket money. 3 days in muddy fields and museums why the heck would they need £200:eek: :eek:
sophiesmum

Perhaps it is to buy lots of cheap booze and tobacco for their parents:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Rachie_B

sophiesmum wrote:

My DD has a history fieldtrip coming up in Oct. 3 days at belgium battlefields,£250. They told us about the trip 3 weeks before end of summer term,and said it could be paid in 3 instalments, £50, and 2 x £100 but had to all be paid by end of term:eek: :eek:
Luckily we had savings to use but other families may have been in a worse situation.
This week we have the letter stating what is "needed" for trip, wellies, waterproofs, etc, and no more than £200 per child pocket money. 3 days in muddy fields and museums why the heck would they need £200:eek: :eek:
DD will not be taking this much although she insists most of her friends will.
sophiesmum

OMG :eek:

i dont think id be prepared to pay *that* much for that kinda trip TBH and i dont think my son would be overly keen on going anyway ! :rotfl:

sophiesmum_2

Can't see the allure of it myself, but the whole class are going as part of gcse coursework. The school is in an affluent area but can't see everyone being able to afford those kinds of amounts.
Still could have been worse there is a 7 day ski ing hol to Canada going from school for the bargain price of £1469.00 per child:eek: :eek: and DD is def not going on that one.

How I long for primary school days when it was £8 for a trip to the safari park:rotfl:

sophiesmum

Andybez38

children- why do they cost so much?

Because they want, want,want,want,want :rolleyes:

Rachie_B

sophiesmum wrote:

Can't see the allure of it myself, but the whole class are going as part of gcse coursework. The school is in an affluent area but can't see everyone being able to afford those kinds of amounts.
Still could have been worse there is a 7 day ski ing hol to Canada going from school for the bargain price of £1469.00 per child:eek: :eek: and DD is def not going on that one.

How I long for primary school days when it was £8 for a trip to the safari park:rotfl:

sophiesmum

:eek: thats complete madness thats how much we would pay for a weeks holiday for a family of 4 !!! :rotfl:

OneSpike

Andybez38 wrote:

children- why do they cost so much?

Because they want, want,want,want,want :rolleyes:

But that doesn't mean we have to buy, buy, buy, buy, buy! Ours know not to bother with the whole pester power routine as the money just ain't there! Unfortunately that means school trips and exchange visits as well, it's just beyond our scope. Five years til the eldest could be at Uni, which is a bit horrifying :eek: They're all rather bright so three at Uni is a distinct possibility - help!

I_was_a_fool

My kids bring something home from their schools asking for money almost every day! Often it is for charity so I feel such a meanie to say no! Just sent off £2 for a ticket for the carol concert, £3 for the drama end of term performance, £15 for the cultural initiative (take the kids to the theatre) etc etc etc.
They are constanly having fetes, bazaars, cake & candy days, sponsored this & that. They also ask for raffle donations, giving up time to help out etc. Often we get sad little newsletters deploring our lack of interest!

sigh!

jessicamb

I've just seen your thread - and I hate to tell you but that is what my dad still says: I am 24 with my own home

rainbowrisin

OMG...I am scared now, but am I scared enough, I ask myself?:eek: :eek:
I have pre-schoolers who are very cheap to run, and I think i've been ostriching a little about how expensive things will be once they start school. We do little bits like swimming and dance, but nothing like trips costings hundreds.
It strikes me from these posts that some schools are very demanding in the amount of money they expect parents to stump up. IMHO, the school should be paying for things which are essential to the curriculum, and trips should be very much seen as an optional extra, rather than a fait accompli. Still, I suppose the teachers like the foreign breaks, especially as they can't afford to holiday during school holidays because the prices are sky high, so some good comes of it all.

Sallys_Savings

One of my daughters is in year 10 and there are FOUR trips that have came home. The first being the GCSE History battlefields trip ..costing £260 for 3 days away!! The second a skiing trip in December ...costing £604 and the third a trip to South Africa £1340 and an adventure holiday which I'm unsure of the cost of. And then there is different day trips too!!

Fortunately we did know that these trips were coming up (she has older siblings) so we were prepared with our savings. (and she had been saving birth/xmas money all of last year and this year and saved £632 to go towards them)

I truely believe in letting them experience as much as they can (and her older bros/sisters have been too), but it has put a strain on our finances.
I'm glad we knew in advance and feel sorry for the ones who didn't.