I just bought my 14 year old a 300 dollar swim suit!

[Bree]

OMG...I had no idea activities had gotten so expensive since I was a kid. What activity is affordable now? That's the one I want to guide my three into!

Recreational league soccer. Registration fee, cleats, shin guards, socks and a bottle of water. Travel leagues is where it gets expensive for soccer.

 

[chartle]

OMG...I had no idea activities had gotten so expensive since I was a kid. What activity is affordable now? That's the one I want to guide my three into!

Band with an instrument the school supplies like tuba, baritone and I guess drums. though for most you have to have some sort of starter instrument like a trumpet or trombone.

As a bonus they may get to go on trip to WDW. I was involved in two trip as a chaperone.

 

[Meshell2002]

I have 3 kids in recreational gymnastics. The have 2 2 hour sessions a week, the monthly fee is 150 for all 3 plus a club family fee annually of $100. Because it's a city club (the have provided the building to improve the downtown area) I think that keeps the fees reasonable. They have a team side but my older 2 play league ball and we can't devote the time to team, I'm not really sorry about that since the price jump is huge. My 10 & 8 yr old play baseball/ softball and that equipment gets pricey and we aren't even in travel ball. My son has a bat that was $300 that I was able to buy gently used for 150.

I have a musically gifted child that is taking piano too, music can be as inexpensive or expensive as you want it to be. Used instruments are easy to come by, what becomes expensive as they progress is the teacher fees if they have private lessons and move up into needing pro teachers vs a free band teacher. I Played percussion drums in high school band and got band partial scholarship for undergrad, but I also took private piano lessons from the age of five through sixteen.

 

[Jaime4004]

Be careful what you wish for. I thought the same thing when our kids were in Tae Kwon Do. They stopped at ages 10 & 13.
Financially, it was killing us, especially x2 kids, but it was good for them. One kid, now 20, is very into gaming so it got him off his rear and kept him fit. After he got his black belt he didn't want to do it anymore and has gotten a tad rounder since. We're not very athletic people or into even watching sports so this was so good for him.

Without having this to keep ds16 (then 12,) occupied a few nights per week, he entered HS and started hanging out with the wrong crowd. It's been a long road since then and he admits he was foolish back then, but still I'd love to go back to taking them to karate and even paying through the nose for it. Having SOMETHING to do keeps them out of trouble. Kids are often insecure at that age and will do ridiculous things to fit in & look cool.

That's exactly why I keep paying a crazy amount for activities. $575/month for 2 competitive gymnasts, plus uniforms (including a $210 competition leotard, so I get the swim pain) and $2500/year for competition fees. I can totally see DD13 falling into the wrong crowd as she gets older so I'm paying a fortune to keep her super busy, plus the exercise is never a bad thing. Well except for the inevitable injuries... It's hard not to think about what I could do with all that extra money though!

 

[mjkacmom]

My DD tore her ACL in track. The silver lining is that she now wants to be a Physical Therapist because of all the PT she went through!

Full disclosure, my dd broke her wrist at track practice! Who does that?! Thanks to 10+ hours a week of Irish dance, and xc/track practice every day after school, she's is PT during the whole school year for hip issues 3 times a week. She's planning on going the physical therapist route, too, is actually at some academic competition right now for her health sciences class.

 

[kymom99]

Full disclosure, my dd broke her wrist at track practice! Who does that?! Thanks to 10+ hours a week of Irish dance, and xc/track practice every day after school, she's is PT during the whole school year for hip issues 3 times a week. She's planning on going the physical therapist route, too, is actually at some academic competition right now for her health sciences class.

My husband always says he hates hurdles every time we see a kid fall flat on his/her face. Not to mention turned ankles on uneven ground in cross country and stress fractures from over use. And shin splints.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

OMG...I had no idea activities had gotten so expensive since I was a kid. What activity is affordable now? That's the one I want to guide my three into!

That's so hard to say, even the "recreational" sports programs can be pricey. Programs run directly through the Y seem to be the most reasonable (especially basketball) but they are unfortunately the least popular in my area. My kiddos are very active with extracurriculars (with the exception of our three year old) and are involved in private dance lessons, high school dance team, volleyball, and chorus; local "rec" tennis, football, basketball, and soccer programs; and also school band with instrument rental. Financially speaking, the one activity that we gave up after several years was gymnastics because the costs weren't worth it to us to continue it as a long term "recreational" program. Football fundraising/concession fees even at the local "rec" level for my 7 yr old DS are pricey and he will also be "moving up" by trying out for the travel soccer and travel basketball leagues this upcoming year. Out of all the activities my kids do, it is dance that has probably cost us the most. I try not to think of what we've spent total on tuition, fees, costumes, shoes, recitals, etc. over the past ten years for our oldest DD who still dances and middle DD who stopped last year after losing interest. We could easily be DVC owners!

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I wanted to add that scouting was a fun, enriching, and affordable activity. I can't speak for cub/boy scouts but both my oldest and middle daughters participated in girl scouts at the daisy and brownie levels for several years but unfortunately had to give that up due to scheduling conflicts with other activities. It's amazing the fun experiences, trips and camps they were able to do with their troops and those were mainly funded by cookie sale proceeds! Those cookies pretty much sell themselves!

 

[kymom99]

I wanted to add that scouting was a fun, enriching, and affordable activity. I can't speak for cub/boy scouts but both my oldest and middle daughters participated in girl scouts at the daisy and brownie levels for several years but unfortunately had to give that up due to scheduling conflicts with other activities. It's amazing the fun experiences, trips and camps they were able to do with their troops and those were mainly funded by cookie sale proceeds! Those cookies pretty much sell themselves!

Let me tell ya my step daughter and her husband both went to college tuition free thanks to scouts. I would definitely encourage that. My son did not have a good experience with scouts unfortunately. The leadership was horrible.

 

[crisi]

I guess you never heard of ice hockey. 10 years ago it was around 6k a year.

My son (who is eighteen) got into pick up hockey maybe five years ago - and wanted to know why we didn't have him play competitive hockey. I said "to play hockey, you have to really want to be a hockey player - and your parents have got to really want to be hockey parents. You, my son, did not get hockey parents." - It isn't just the expense, its the burden in time - willing to get your kid to his ice time if its 10 at night or 6 in the morning - or drive two hours into Wisconsin for a game.

 

[LadyD]

I would love to only pay $300/400 for a swimsuit. I have a figure skater and an equestrian in my house...

Out of all the sports in the world out there, the two I loved most growing up were figure skating and horseback riding. Neither of my parents were ever involved in either sport themselves or encouraged me to get involved in either of these sports (I also played soccer and they tried to get me involved with tennis, swimming, basketball, softball, etc but those sports never appealed to me). A picture on a pony in pre-school and my first time skating on an ice rink when I was six was all it took to hook me into these sports.

Talk about expensive between the equipment and lessons, not to mention the time on their end carting me to and from the rink and stables. Luckily for them, I never had any desire to compete in either sport and just loved to participate and to further my individual skill in them.

Even as an adult, these are two of my favorite physical activities to participate in. I'm glad my parents were able to make it work and allow me to be involved with them growing up. They are a few of the bright spots in my childhood and still bring me joy today.

 

[jmmess]

Wow!! I had no idea a swimsuit could cost that much and not even last that long. Holy cow!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

That's exactly why I keep paying a crazy amount for activities. $575/month for 2 competitive gymnasts, plus uniforms (including a $210 competition leotard, so I get the swim pain) and $2500/year for competition fees. I can totally see DD13 falling into the wrong crowd as she gets older so I'm paying a fortune to keep her super busy, plus the exercise is never a bad thing. Well except for the inevitable injuries... It's hard not to think about what I could do with all that extra money though!

Dh's niece was a gymnast and it cost my SIL a ton of $. By the time she was at near-Olympic level, she was a bit too old, IIRC, I think 15 or 16.
On the plus side, it got her a full scholarship to Pitt but in hindsight my SIL said it would have been cheaper to just pay for college. lol. Still, it kept her from "hanging with the wrong crowd", being boy-crazy, getting pregnant, having her parents wonder where she "really" is, etc. Instead, she was careful to only eat heathy foods and to keep up her grades knowing that if they slipped too much, she would have to quit gymnastics. She trained from 3-9 pm weekdays (& all day weekends) and did homework in her tiny bit of spare time. You have to really want it to go to those lengths.

 

[chartle]

My DN11 does soccer (outdoor and indoor), horseback riding (mostly because my sister always wanted to but we had no money growing up), Dance/Baton and started to play the oboe in the band.
She wants to keep her moving since both parents to point are pooh sized.

 

[maciec]

Thank goodness those suits are not allowed on my sons swim team! None of the teams that we swim against have kids that wear them either!

 

[crisi]

Dh's niece was a gymnast and it cost my SIL a ton of $. By the time she was at near-Olympic level, she was a bit too old, IIRC, I think 15 or 16.
On the plus side, it got her a full scholarship to Pitt but in hindsight my SIL said it would have been cheaper to just pay for college. lol. Still, it kept her from "hanging with the wrong crowd", being boy-crazy, getting pregnant, having her parents wonder where she "really" is, etc. Instead, she was careful to only eat heathy foods and to keep up her grades knowing that if they slipped too much, she would have to quit gymnastics. She trained from 3-9 pm weekdays (& all day weekends) and did homework in her tiny bit of spare time. You have to really want it to go to those lengths.

My daughter was a non-competitive recreational gymnast (she's a klutz, I wanted her to learn some body awareness) at a gym where they trained competitive gymnasts, and this was very much the case. The FEW girls who got scholarships had spent more in training and meets than they would have had their parents just saved for college. The same is true for hockey - or pretty much any sport you throw a ton of money at.

My sister was a competitive gymnast - and it didn't keep her from hanging out with the wrong crowd - she's sober after three trips through rehab - and part of her abuse issues had to do with the pain from the damage she did to her body as a gymnast - turns out handing out prescription pain killers to "work through it" is part of the culture. She was boy crazy, sexually active long before her geeky non-athletic sisters, went to wild parties with the athletes - and had the worst grades of the three of us.

Athletics - or drama - or band - or anything - none of that keeps you out of trouble if you want to get into it. I have a friend who tells the wildest stories about church camp

 

[momplus3]

Both DS17 and DS15 play high school soccer (well, DS17 finished his last season this fall). Cleats are $200-$300 each, plus indoor shoes ($125). Not as bad as some activities but definitely not cheap in my opinion.

 

[robinb]

Thank goodness those suits are not allowed on my sons swim team! None of the teams that we swim against have kids that wear them either!

Not allowed at all? Even for the swimmers who go to championship meets?

 

[mjkacmom]

Both DS17 and DS15 play high school soccer (well, DS17 finished his last season this fall). Cleats are $200-$300 each, plus indoor shoes ($125). Not as bad as some activities but definitely not cheap in my opinion.

I'm hoping ds14 just plays HS soccer next year, saving us over $2000.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My daughter was a non-competitive recreational gymnast (she's a klutz, I wanted her to learn some body awareness) at a gym where they trained competitive gymnasts, and this was very much the case. The FEW girls who got scholarships had spent more in training and meets than they would have had their parents just saved for college. The same is true for hockey - or pretty much any sport you throw a ton of money at.

My sister was a competitive gymnast - and it didn't keep her from hanging out with the wrong crowd - she's sober after three trips through rehab - and part of her abuse issues had to do with the pain from the damage she did to her body as a gymnast - turns out handing out prescription pain killers to "work through it" is part of the culture. She was boy crazy, sexually active long before her geeky non-athletic sisters, went to wild parties with the athletes - and had the worst grades of the three of us.

Athletics - or drama - or band - or anything - none of that keeps you out of trouble if you want to get into it. I have a friend who tells the wildest stories about church camp

wow!
I'm surprised to hear that. Perhaps sometimes the pressure for perfection is too much. In which case, just being a "regular" kid and accepting your strengths & weaknesses as they are, would be preferred.
Being a parent is truly the toughest job on the planet.