Half of Parents ‘Cancel’ After School Activities Due to Extra Expense

Sept. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- As part of ongoing research into the parenting habits of Britons, the UK’s leading discount website has conducted a study of 1,192 parents in a bid to discover their attitudes towards after school activities, such as dance and swimming lessons.

The study, conducted by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, asked the respondents if their children attended after school activities; to which two fifths, 42%, answered ‘Yes’.  

A third, 34%, of the parents polled stated that their children did not take part in after school activities, whilst the remaining quarter, 24%, of the parents who took part in the study said that their children ‘occasionally’ took part in activities out of school hours.

The third of respondents who stated that their children did not attend after school activities were asked to identify the main reasons why this was the case. According to the research, more than half, 52%, said they had to ‘cancel activities’ with an aim to ‘save money’.

Furthermore, 8% claimed that their children did not take part in leisure activities after school hours because they ‘couldn’t afford’ the classes.  In addition, 27% claimed that their children simply ‘didn’t want to attend classes out of school’.

Of the quarter of respondents who stated that their children ‘occasionally’ attended after school activities, the majority, 48%, admitted that their children were ‘too lazy’ to attend the activity every time. Furthermore, 14% admitted their child didn’t frequently attend that activity due to the ‘expense’.

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, commented on the findings:

“A previous study revealed that some British parents feel anxious when the school holidays are approaching due to the extra costs involved in entertaining their children. With this in mind, as a money saving website, we thought it would be interesting to see what other issues make parents feel concerned about money when it comes to entertaining their children.”

He continued,

“It wasn’t too surprising to see that many children are simply too lazy or don’t want to join in with out of school activities, but it is sad to discover that such a large amount of parents cannot afford to let their children attend fun activities. After all, not only do the kids have fun but the parents get a break!

“Sites such as MyVoucherCodes.co.uk can offer a great deal of support to parents as there are array of discounts on great products and days out; all of which will keep the children entertained at a fraction of the cost. After school activities can be expensive, but making savings wherever possible can really help cut down on the expense.”

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LINK: http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk.  

For more information please contact Charlotte Horsfall of 10 Yetis Public Relations on charlotte@10yetis.co.uk or 01452348211.

Editor’s Notes

Mark Pearson, Chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 29, his personal worth is more than £30 million.

Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year.

Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.

MyVoucherCodes is the UK’s most popular discount site.