Expensive Summer For Parents

19 June 2014, 06:00

Parents are spending up to five hundred pounds on entertaining their children this summer.

The Post Office's annual spending report shows a twenty six per cent rise in parents spending from last year.

Two thirds of parents are worried about the cost of entertaining their children during the summer break with one in ten saying they would miss bill payments to cover extra costs.

Parents are set to spend £492 on average in keeping their children amused.

In order to fund the holiday breaks families are planning to dip into their savings and cut back on their weekly shop by buying homebrands -  even taking  loans out and credit cards to help with the costs.

High on the list of spending are admissions to various attractions including theme parks and museums.

Parents at  Cafe Junior in Cardiff say they don't want their kids to miss out this summer and feeling under pressure to keep up with other parents spending.

Mum of two Jennie has told Heart:

'It's a big pressure because you want to make summer holidays super special - they've worked really hard in school and you don't want to just give them a week of watching TV and going to the park you want it to be special. There's peer pressure to make sure you do as much as you can from bowling to swimming and each time your out you have to pay for food and drinks and it just adds up.'