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Why are you talking about college? Having kids in general is very, very expensive. More so if you want to provide them with opportunities and activities as they

by elteto 4y ago

Why are you talking about college? Having kids in general is very, very expensive. More so if you want to provide them with opportunities and activities as they grow up.

fsloth 4y ago
Having kids is not terribly expensive everywhere. Not all need to have super expensive hobbies either. I guess there is a huge regional difference - starting from cost daycare.
- benhurmarcel 4y ago
  Having kids isn't that cheap even outside the US. I estimate I spend about €1000 more per month for having one baby. It's pretty significant in a country where the average employee earns €2000/month after tax (and a senior engineer is at €3500/month roughly).
- elteto 4y ago
  That may be, but I can only speak as to my reality. It is not actionable to me that in X country things are cheaper. I don’t live there and I’m not moving either. Also, I’m not talking about “expensive” hobbies. Almost all sports need some sort of equipment and time investment from the parents. Summer camps for some parents are a necessity because they need child care during summer months. Vacations for kids are also expensive and people typically save all year long to take them. I could go on.
- subpixel 4y ago
  Good preschool is $10k+. In large swaths of the country decent schools only exist where housing is prohibitively expensive. The combination of camp and afternoon care in the summer is thousands of dollars a month. It all adds up and while you can get clothes at goodwill there are some expenses that are unavoidable and scale linearly with quality.
  - fsloth 4y ago
    Holy smokes that is expensive. In my country preschool is free and it’s all around good. I don’t think we ever had to use any summer care either. Kids are now 12 and 15… the only necessary thing that is more expensive is the house since it needs to fit more people but that is just about the size, not location dictated by a good school as such. For us all expenses related to quality of life just scale linearly with headcount.

by elteto 4y ago

Why are you talking about college? Having kids in general is very, very expensive. More so if you want to provide them with opportunities and activities as they grow up.

fsloth 4y ago

Having kids is not terribly expensive everywhere. Not all need to have super expensive hobbies either. I guess there is a huge regional difference - starting from cost daycare.

benhurmarcel 4y ago
Having kids isn't that cheap even outside the US. I estimate I spend about €1000 more per month for having one baby. It's pretty significant in a country where the average employee earns €2000/month after tax (and a senior engineer is at €3500/month roughly).
elteto 4y ago
That may be, but I can only speak as to my reality. It is not actionable to me that in X country things are cheaper. I don’t live there and I’m not moving either. Also, I’m not talking about “expensive” hobbies. Almost all sports need some sort of equipment and time investment from the parents. Summer camps for some parents are a necessity because they need child care during summer months. Vacations for kids are also expensive and people typically save all year long to take them. I could go on.
subpixel 4y ago
Good preschool is $10k+. In large swaths of the country decent schools only exist where housing is prohibitively expensive. The combination of camp and afternoon care in the summer is thousands of dollars a month. It all adds up and while you can get clothes at goodwill there are some expenses that are unavoidable and scale linearly with quality.
- fsloth 4y ago
  Holy smokes that is expensive. In my country preschool is free and it’s all around good. I don’t think we ever had to use any summer care either. Kids are now 12 and 15… the only necessary thing that is more expensive is the house since it needs to fit more people but that is just about the size, not location dictated by a good school as such. For us all expenses related to quality of life just scale linearly with headcount.