Counting the cost of summer
By Barbara Daly
THE increased cost of living has been negatively impacting on many people since last winter.
Summer’s arrival should be lessening that impact. Fuel is used less, which means we have a break from those dreaded, extortionate bills for a few months.
However, for the first year I am discovering that the cost of summer is a cost all in itself. Children are off school and need to be entertained.
They are home all day and suddenly the weekly grocery shopping does not last half as long. Who knew a six-year-old boy could eat so much?
There is an expectation that exciting things will happen and activities will be organised every day. It is easy to get caught up in that expectation and easy to compare your family to others.
The question repeated every morning is ‘Where are we going today?’ or ‘What is the plan for today?’.
As I wrote last week, we went on a foreign holiday in June which probably cost us in the region of €4,500, all in. We are still recovering from that expenditure but we saw that as our one big expense for the summer.
Not so. We still have eight more weeks of entertaining and feeding small children.
Of course there are plenty of free options like the beach, playgrounds, playing at home with friends, but somehow sneaky extra costs still seem to arise.
You buy extra toys for the beach because the old ones are not in good shape; an ice cream seems to be essential on a warm day after the playground; you invest in more toys for the garden because you want them to stay outdoors with their friends. It never seems to end. Then there are the summer camps and all of the outings and activities available in the summer that cost money. If you have a few children these can soon add up.
I know for many families this puts added pressure on already stressed situations. Children have no concept of money, bills or incomes and they want what their friends have. They see holidays as a time of fun, activities and treats and as parents we want them to have all that.
As a child I was lucky enough to live beside an Olympic-sized outdoor swimming pool for which my mother bought me a book of tickets to see me through each summer. My parents also joined me in the local tennis club. That was a lot for a child growing up in the 1970s and early '80s in Ireland.
I was the youngest of seven in a family where only one parent ever worked.
There was never much spare money yet somehow my parents managed. The cost of living must have been a lot less for them to manage so well and of course mortgages were paid off quickly leaving them free of one major financial burden.
Yet in spite of my good fortune with summer activities my memories of growing up are mainly of playing - playing in a field of ferns, playing with homemade mud kitchens, climbing on bales of barley.
Even with the vast array of activities now available to children, I have discovered that all my children really want is to play with their friends. That is what they enjoy most and the venue or activity does not seem to matter.
Maybe it is time we went back to basics and allowed them the chance to play freely in the outdoors with their friends. Maybe it is time to learn to say no to some of the extras.
* Read Barbara Daly's A Woman's View column in our print edition every Tuesday