Parents Thank You ChalkBucket Family

[billise]

2 - 3 times a year DH adds up the gym costs, looks at me and says "Why are we doing this again? I mean where exactly is this going?"

While DH is not extremely involved in DD's gymnastics (he drops her off at practice from time to time and makes it to as many meets as he possibly can during comp. season) he has always been quite supportive of it. He loves her gym and respects what he has seen of the owners and coaches. DH works very hard to provide a comfortable life for our family while I stay at home and handle the household responsibilities and the fact that he regularly examines our spending is a huge part of the reason we are in the financial position we are in. So I don't mind the question, I'm just always at a bit of a loss to explain the value to him because his limited involvement makes it difficult for him to understand. So tonight, thanks to you all, I was able to break it down to him in a way that even someone with limited involvement could understand...

"Honey, when you break it down we are paying $7 an hour. Granted she trains 9 hours a week but it's still $7 an hour. I'm not sure where it's going at this point but it's $7 an hour."

He looked at me, quickly did the math in his head, nodded, and then as if right on cue, DD came in and did this...

... DH smiled. Discussion over

 

[bogwoppit]

She is adorable. Glad DH gets it. It is not easy to explain why gymnastics is awesome.

 

[Becauseisaid]

That was great! And it made me grab a calculator and figure out our hourly rate. Now I feel better!

 

[billise]

When DD was first invited to join pre-team I was quite concerned by the jump in price from the Rec classes. Several ChalkBucket members pointed out the hourly break down. It was really surprising to me when I looked at it that way!

 

[tooootsie]

that made me check too.. we are $6.94 an hour... not bad.

 

[curlygirls]

Thanks for posting this! It makes me feel better. Even though our gym payment is the same as our house payment, we are only paying $4.50 and $5.90 an hour for the two gymmies.

 

[cbifoja]

Wow! I'm incredibly fortunate. I am paying only about $3 an hour right now but we have been warned that a steep tuition hike is coming soon.

I think I understand why.....

 

[billise]

$3 an hour!!! I better not let DH see that

 

[Amusibus]

Yikes we are now at 7.81 an hour, next year going up to ~ 10$ an hour. Northeast prices, I guess.

 

[cbifoja]

$3 an hour!!! I better not let DH see that

Someone can check my math to make sure but she trains 17 hours a week and I pay $205 a month. By my math that is $3.01 an hour. Yes?

 

[billise]

Looks right to me!!!

 

[kandkfunk]

We are at $4.12 an hour for level 8. That seems like a pretty good rate and includes a slight increase from last fall.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Team girls here pay about $9 hr.. We pay about $5 with our scholarship. Great way of looking at things..

 

[raenndrops]

Someone can check my math to make sure but she trains 17 hours a week and I pay $205 a month. By my math that is $3.01 an hour. Yes?

Yep, and we are at about $3 an hour too (if the child has an individual YMCA membership and no scholarship). If the family has a Y membership for other reasons already, then technically, gym is only $2.33 an hour - lol (without a scholarship)

 

[txgymfan]

I bet parents of ice skaters and equestrians would be very envious of these numbers.

 

[gymmomof1]

Lol got me curious about what we pay and is about 6.25 for L7-10 and its 20 hrs @week. Not counting assessment/meet fees

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

We pay about 4.20 an hour and she practices 16 hours a week

 

[stillgotmyleotard]

Your girl is gorgeous.

I won't do my maths here because gymnastics has tried to sink me financially over the past month and a half. I'm long enough in the tooth to know that seeing it written down won't comfort me in the slightest.

I'm not sure what price I could put on my girl's happiness anyway. Or her outlet, or her joy, or her identity. When anyone asks her what gymnastics is about, my daughter says 'gymnastics is life'. And we all know life is expensive.

 

[gracyomalley]

Love the gym cost being equivalent to the mortgage...and I think with the 3 kids all increasing hours this summer I'm right up with you, but it still comes to about $4 an hour per kid....probably more like 6-7 an hour if I add in all the meet fees, travel (big here due to region), equipment, etc....

 

[luvmygymdtr]

I always argue gym is a great value. Of course I only have skating to compare it to....

gymnastics - $4.50/hour - with instruction

skating - $43.00/hour - with instruction;
$16.00/hour - without instruction

imo, That perspective makes gymnastics look practically free...