Finnish pop singer Diandra visited a free Easysport event during the children’s winter holidays at the Töölö Sports Hall in Helsinki in 2013. Picture: Tony Öhberg for Finland Today
Hobbies of children cost too much, according to a recent study. 74 percent of Finns think that this is the case. The answers were not depended on the age of the respondents, the place of residence or the level of income.
The majority (41 percent) of the respondents spent a maximum of 50 euros on the hobbies of their offspring. 22 percent spent 50 to 100 euros, and a minority of 13 percent spent 100 to 200 euros. People who paid more than 200 euros in a month were scarce.
When talking about the sums, the size of the family and the level of income play their respective roles. 22 percent of families with three children said that hobbies can take as much as 100 to 200 euros a month and 14 percent said that they can cost as much as 200 to 300 euros. With a bigger salary, more money is spent on the children’s hobbies but the roof — even among the rich — is at 200 euros.
An interesting finding is that parents are more willing to compromise their own hobbies rather than their children’s. 21 percent of Finns said that they have had to cut back from their own pursuit of leisure because of their children’s expenses, but only 12 percent said that they were willing to spend less on their children’s pastime amusements.
The reason for this thinking is that the expenses of children’s hobbies are likely seen as an investment to the future.
The study (Arjen katsaus) was ordered by insurance company LähiTapiola. The research was conducted by Kantar TNS in September-October 2017 and 1,026 Finns in the age of 15-74 responded.
