Money Moral Dilemma: Should our four-year-old child pay for her own extracurricular activities?

littlegreen

I 100% put any money my children are gifted into an account from which activites comes out of. They are 3. They have savings for when they hit 18, which we also add too.

This account is mostly funded from parents income but the odd tenner from relatives also goes in here. They enjoy their activites, they want to do them, but similarly if they really want a sweet from the shop I also take it from that account. When they hit about 5 I will let them put in their moneybox. 

I know this is a money saving site but money is also for enjoying life. If your kid enjoys the activity we'll it's much better then buying yet another toy or meaning they can have an extra drink or their 18th!

Exodi

littlegreen said:

I know this is a money saving site but money is also for enjoying life. If your kid enjoys the activity we'll it's much better then buying yet another toy or meaning they can have an extra drink or their 18th!

Where I live an extra-curricular activity is around £8 (if bought in bulk), so at a broad guess the OP is spending around £30ish a week/£140ish a month/  £1700ish a year.

I'm sure if the sums were so trivial as you suggest, that it could reasonably equate to 'another toy' or 'an extra drink on their 18th', the OP wouldn't need to plunder their young child's savings to pay for it.

But I appreciate your point isn't as convincing if you say "If your kid enjoys the activity, well it's much better than buying driving lessons or paying towards their first car".

By the by, I don't remember a single thing from being 4 years old. Thankfully my parents didn't race through my savings when I was younger as I suspect I probably asked for all sorts at that age. Let's hope OP's daughter doesn't ask for a pony next.

[Deleted User]

Although your daughter is only four, the money is still hers to do what she wants with as soon as she’s old enough to make these sort of decisions for herself. No doubt you asked her whether or not she wanted to pay for these activities herself, and she said yes; however, at four years old she simply isn’t old enough to make that call yet. After all, children of that age don’t understand money and finances. If I were in your shoes I would feel extremely guilty about dipping into this money. It sounds to me that if you do, it could lead to a very slippery slope where you start charging your daughter for her new school shoes if one day you find you can’t afford them.

My advice, as a 65-year-old mum and grandma, is please don’t be tempted to use this money. Instead wait until your daughter is old enough to understand and to make proper decisions for herself about what she wishes to spend it on. 

I hope this helps.

Greengirl24

Most importantly only activities the little ones enjoy.  I never got why my parents paid for ballet and piano lessons I hated ! I always ask the parents what to get for presents and now they are suggesting activities rather than objects which is better as the house is full of toys! But am encouraging them to set up saving accounts as well even if inflation is going to wipe out savings over next 12  years.