Every sympathy for people with children

[Broke of London]

You're teaching your boys valuable life skills. Kids who get everything on a plate will never appreciate the value of hard work or the value of money. You're not a bad parent by a long shot.

[Foggy]

Hey Lyn. You are not a rubbish parent. The most important thing they are getting in oodles is love. They also have a responsible mum who will pass that wisdom on. Unlike their mates, they will have a better appreciation of what money can buy.

[kazzafunk]

The thing is Lyns - those friends that have laptops etc will have parents paying for them for years on credit I bet.
It makes me so angry when I see the rows of games at my sisters house. They hardly ever play with them. Such a waste of money.
Don't give in to them. They are the next generation and I am sure if they can learn the value of money early enough it will make their teens a lot easier for them.

[kallis3]

I've tried to teach my daughter the value of money but I think it has fallen on deaf ears. She was never allowed everything she asked for, same as my stepkids (who are both in trouble moneywise as well!)

As soon as they start earning their own money they seem to want to go out and spend it!

[Pandy]

Mrs K you have my sympathy, when mine were little we lived in Weymouth and because we were near the beach and hubby working seasonally we never took the kids away on holiday, but they spent all the summer with a crabline off the end of the pier.

I did feel guilty one year when my youngest went round telling him mates he had been to Spain just so he didn't have to say he didn't have a holiday.

He is now 26 and if you ask him about his childhood he says it was brilliant growing up by the seaside etc, he has forgotten all the things he didn't have and just remembers the good times, He even tells me he is going to teach his son to go 'crabbing ' once he learns to swim, as he enjoyed it so much. The lines cost about 50p (now about £2) then and gave him 6 weeks worth of fun.

My kids didn't have paid for swimming lessons, hubby taught them in the sea, they both swim like fishes and didn't feel deprived because they didn't have 'proper lessons'.

[mrsbee]

Mrs Knight we have the same problem and we do feel guilty. We have 3 sons they are 2, 7 and 10. I hate having to explain that we just can't afford things at the moment They are generally very good and we have been to the library a lot, walking to the park, visited a 'free' local family fun day that only cost us a couple of pound for hotdogs and a go on games but now the weather has taken a turn for the worse they are sooo bored, I have played so many games of monopoly and pairs! We are going away in a few weeks just for 4 nights in Somerset for my 30th, my mum has paid but I am going to try and pay bits back although she said not to. We are trying to cut back on the food shopping so that we will be able to visit places down there.
In a way I am glad that they already have all the gadgets i.e. Xbox360 and Wii because we certainly couldn't afford them now as they were all bought with credit. As hard as it is though I think it is teaching them to be frugal and look after your pennies
I do feel bad that they can't swim though they have been with school but they only go for 6 weeks, one afternoon a week. We can't afford lessons and the last time my husband took eldest to the local pool just to try and teach him it cost £8 We can't afford that every week! Swimming lessons to a basic level should be free I think for children especially.
Oh well off I go to try and keep them occupied

[Broke of London]

Kids have so much these days but all my best memories are in the garden! You can get disposable BBQs from Poundland and Asda which you could use to cook sausages for lunch and it'll be exciting because it's something different. I always loved a BBQ! People shouldn't be pressured into keeping up with the Joneses, I was the rich kid in school and still didn't get spoilt like some of my friends as my parents had nothing to prove.

[kallis3]

No such things as BBQ's when I was a kid! I used to be out from morning till night only coming in for lunch!! I was never bored.

I'm just glad now though that I don't have young kids.

[Rosepetal]

mrsbee, we get points from our local council for using our recycling bin(they weigh it&allocate points). these points are then exchanged for vouchers, ie buy 1 cream tea get one free,it includes a voucher for a free game of crazy golf at the local golf range. they also offer so many points in exchange for 1 free adult swim at a local pool. do you have anything like that in your area?

our son was home from uni,he took his girlfriend for a game of crazy golf,then a free swim & they took a picnic with them,it didn't cost them anything.

Martin Lewis has a section on his site for cheap/free things to do. you can sign up for a regular news letter.
it is hard when they're off.

[kallis3]

I don't think are many councils who do that - ours certainly don't.

[Skippy]

Our council doesn't do anything like that! I wish it did as I wouldn't begrudge recycling as much if they did!

[kallis3]

I wish they did - we'd get loads of points the amount of recycling we do!

[Skippy]

We recycle but I will admit to being lazy and putting things like mayo and peanut butter jars in rubbish as they are horrible to clean!

[kallis3]

We just rinse jars out and then put them in. Well hubby does, not me!!

[mrsbee]

I wish we did get points that sounds like a great idea, we recycle as much as possible because the wheelie bins (3 of them) are only standard size and there are 5 of us plus the cat! They only get emptied every other week too :0