Someone tagging along with you in life doesn't seem like it would cost you a lot of money in the long run, but you would be surprised.
According to the Department of Agriculture, the average middle-income couple will spend roughly $233,000 to raise their child until the age of 17. And that's before college tuition fees.
That means, every year, families are spending between $12,000 to $14,000 to raise a child.
The agency found that housing (finding a house with an extra bedroom), food, and child care takes a chunk out of the monthly budget.
Then there's other essentials (depending on your child's age), gifts, and, let's not forget, extracurricular activities.
Parents know these extra costs of raising child come at a hefty price, but they figure it will pay off in the long run.
As a mother, I don't doubt this for a second, but have you looked at just how expensive sports, music, or art-related activities are these days? The figures may shock you.
According to a recent survey conducted by Ipsos for Global News, 1 in 3 Canadian families go into debt for their children's after-school activities. It wouldn't surprise me if this figure is the same in America.
In 2016, Time magazine reported on that year's Backpack Index, which looked at the annual cost of school supplies and other expenses.
They noticed that not only are these expenses increasing, the cost is also increasing depending on your child's age group.
The average yearly cost for extracurricular activities in the U.S. is said to be more than $700. Young kids, on average, cost between $400 to $700, while parents of high school kids are paying over $1,000.
That being said, these figures don't take everything into account.
The Canadian Ipsos survey released a ranking of how much the average family will roughly spend on popular activities.
- Hockey ($744)
- Dance Lessons ($527)
- Music Lessons ($500)
- Language Classes ($473)
- Gymnastics ($464)
- Martial Arts ($443)
- Volleyball ($383)
- Art Lessons ($379)
- Basketball ($371)
- Drama Classes ($363)
- Football ($300)
- Baseball ($271)
- Scouts ($226)
- Skating ($213)
- Soccer ($212)
- Swimming ($204)
These numbers sound off, right? Here's why...
Many parents would be shocked to see how low these number are, and I don't blame them.
There are many other things that parents have to dish out money for when their child begins a new hobby, such as registration fees, equipment, and, let's not forget, the commute.
Also, if your child participates in competitive sports, you'll have to spend way more money compared to enrolling your kid in recreational sports.
And, if your child keeps changing activities, you'll have to spend even more money on new equipment, registration fees, etc.
Keep in mind, many parents have more than one kid, and oftentimes, children will attend more than one extracurricular activity.
[H/T: Global News]
