Mom Admits To Her Husband That They Spend $50K A Year On Their Daughter’s Dance Costumes — "That's The Price Of A Nice Car’
They’ve spent the average person’s income on their daughter’s extracurriculars.
VGstockstudio / Shutterstock.com After budgeting their expenses for the year and reviewing their bills, self-proclaimed “dance mom” Dana took to TikTok to break some unsettling news to her husband.
Not only did they spend thousands on their daughter’s dance extracurricular costs — they’d spent more than the average person spends on a car.
“Are you joking?” her husband honestly questioned after she revealed the number to him in a recent video. “There’s no way. You had to have miscalculated…Who do we think we are?”
A mom revealed to her husband how much they’d spent on their daughter’s dance costumes — more than many earn in a year.
After revealing to her husband that they’d spent over $50K on their daughter’s dance costumes, conventions, travel, and other costs throughout the year, he was nothing short of “speechless” — so much so that he told her to turn the camera off.
Their only daughter, who was “extremely gifted” with dance, had been dedicated to the sport and routine for years. While they weren’t originally spending that kind of money on her every year, as she’s progressed and grown older, they’ve been more dedicated to investing in her talents.
“We don’t want to make any parents feel like they shouldn’t sign their kids up for dance,” Dana admitted after her husband couldn't help but add that their expenses were equal to buying “a really nice car.”
Equally shocked, she said they’d spent over $50K that year on dance costumes for their daughter.
“We do live in one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive, places in the country,” her husband said in a follow-up video. “We’re very fortunate that we’re able to make this type of investment, but of course, it’s come with a lot of personal and family sacrifices.”
Their contributions throughout the year have grown significantly from travel costs to training expenses to dance costumes. However, the couple considers the expenses an investment, something they expect “a return” on through their daughter’s fulfillment and, hopefully, future career.
“This is what we do,” her husband added, “because we think our baby is a star. Everybody doesn’t have to do all this … Some of this stuff is just ‘above and beyond’ what our studio provides.”
“With the return on investment,” they added at the end of the video, “we’re hoping to invest more into training than competing next year.”
While it’s likely not “on par” with the investments other parents have the freedom to make for their kids, they are simply setting their daughter up for success, as a college trust fund would for another student.
For many families, extracurricular activities for their kids are barred by economic disparity.
From travel sports to after-school extracurricular activities, many families don’t have the freedom — or financial stability — to enroll their children.
Many parents working full-time aren’t able to sacrifice the time or money required to participate.
Even recreational sports, once community-centered activities for all children, regardless of their backgrounds, have grown inaccessible for many families. Not only does this prove to be isolating for low-income children, but it also removes opportunities for children to make friends early in life, learn teamwork and bonding skills, and adopt healthy exercise habits.
Money stress, modern-day economic challenges, and financial struggles aren’t solely a parental issue — they’re also affecting the relationships they cultivate with their children, their kids’ social lives, the social awareness and skills they bring into adulthood, and the presence of growing resentment in many family dynamics.
So, while this married couple said they’re not trying to “discourage” parents from choosing dance or other activities for their children, they do open up a larger discussion about how inaccessible these activities already are for many families across the nation.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.