Cinema, pool, fast food, but also museums and exhibitions: I’ll talk about a Saturday or Sunday I spent with my kids, but above all how much I spent to make them happy. So far I haven’t found myself ‘doing the calculations’ (I’m terrible at home economics), but my curiosity was piqued when I saw prices go up a bit everywhere.

With the arrival of summer, the first wish of my two sons, aged 10 and 14, was to spend a day in the pool. I won’t hide it, I really like the idea too, first of all to avoid long lines in the car to get to the beach. I chose the usual swimming pool in the suburb where a very kind girl at the reception told me the entrance is 13 euros per person and if I want a sunbed (per person) I have to add 3 more. But the saddest news is that we are all ‘adults’ now, so considering my husband, I had to spend a huge 64 euros. If I had a child under 10 years old, I would have paid 7.50 Euros for them, for a total of 53 Euros. The day was enjoyable, but it did not end there in terms of expenses. I brought lunch from home to save money but had to buy at least one cold drink for the little ones and spent another 6 euros at the bar. Happy and satisfied, we went home with 70 euros less in the wallet. If I had satisfied them by taking them to a water park, I would have spent 87 Euros just for the entrance. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been better even by the sea in Ostia, considering 10 euros for a sunbed, 10 euros for an umbrella (in a resort without a swimming pool of course) and about 12 euros round trip for petrol.

Our weekends are dedicated not only to entertainment, but also to culture, but even then the bill is very high. Like when I took my kids to see the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Even if it’s money well spent, it’s wasted. Wanna know how much it cost me? With a reservation of 66 Euros and if I had decided to get an audio guide I would have arrived at 94 Euros. I know very well that admission is free on the last Sunday of the month but the queue is endless and so I chose to pay so as not to ruin my day (Mothers know what it’s like to stand in line for hours while their kids complain every 5 seconds). After a lovely visit to the Sistine Chapel the ice cream could not be missing, 3 euros per cone, an expense which brought the total daily bill to 78 euros. Exhibitions are also prohibited: 74 euros for Van Gogh’s exhibition in Rome.

There are also less busy weekends when days at the park or by bike don’t strain the family budget. Unfortunately, we always overlook a pizza with friends and you never spend less than 100 euros even if you choose the neighborhood restaurant.

And for a quick dinner at fast food and a night at the movies? Mind-blowing numbers. With the Offers app, the bill for a sandwich with a hamburger, drink and chips reaches 45 euros. Full ticket to see “Transformers – Awakening” (which I didn’t even like) costs 9 euros up to 12 years, 7 euros for a discounted ticket, 34 euros in total. At the end of the day, or rather just for the evening, I spent 79 euros, even snacking on popcorn while I was bored while watching a movie.

Considering that I don’t take my kids to fancy restaurants and famous sports venues and spend around €350, €4,200 a year on entertainment like this, about 4 days a month, I understand why the birth rate is always there. Low. And I’m talking only about leisure, I haven’t mentioned the essentials yet. It costs an average of 175,000 Euros (Federconsumatori estimates) to raise and support a child up to the age of 18, in terms of food, clothing, education, sports, health, transport, entertainment, etc. It is estimated that more than 700 Euros per month are needed for . Except for 135 euros for a single check (for the Isee bracket under 27 thousand). There’s a lot of talk about family policies, but little is done in practice, ignoring the need for family protection to be considered a separate category, a single unit, not two adults paying a full ticket and two discounted tickets. For children, a 12-year-old cannot go to the movies, museums, or even the pool alone.

While traveling I’ve seen situations where families with young children don’t line up, everyone passes by, family packs for museums are the norm, where there’s a real ‘culture’ of the family apart from considering the 10-. A child as old as an adult as we do in Italy. And so, amid precarious jobs up to age 35, years of unpaid wages, expensive rent, skyrocketing mortgages, and loss of purchasing power, teens are finding it increasingly difficult to think of a child because in the end they would rather live than survive.

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