Seriously, dance recitals are like the biggest rip-off ever.
I have been stuck going to two of them for my kid. It's great fun for the kids, and yes, they do look super cute in their little costumes. But here's the tally:
--$50 for said costume
--$15 each for tickets
--minimum of $30 for photos of child in costume
--God only knows how much for DVD of recital
All for the privilege of 3 hours of watching mostly kids you don't know doing clumsy ballet to Disney songs.
truth
ReplyDeleteTruth - but one day you'll miss it.
ReplyDeleteI keep coming back to this when I see you complain about price or service, but all you have to do is... not give them your money. Most of the stuff you complain about when it comes to this kind of stuff is not essential to one's health or well-being: fast food, movie theatres, children's extracurricular activities, etc. In Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation he writes at the end that we as consumers effectively vote every time we spend our money. If a product or service isn't meeting your standards, don't spend your money there. Complaining about it on here doesn't do anything to solve the problem. The old adage holds very well here - our actions speak louder than our words.
ReplyDeleteI guess because I don't think it's worth missing out on special or enjoyable things in life just because one small aspect of it annoys me.
DeleteThat's a fair response, and I certainly am not implying that consumers don't have the right to or shouldn't complain. We (collective "we") have to decide if the overall experience is worth it. Like ads before movies... I find the notion of paying to be advertised to a bit absurd, so only rarely will I see a movie in a theatre. It's my way of saying I don't think the offered product is worth it most of the time.
DeleteI would say there's a difference between special and enjoyable things. I'm more willing to stand on principal for the latter than the former.
It depends if my enjoyment is greater than the annoyance. I love seeing movies in theaters and I'm not going to give that up just because some small part of it is mildly annoying to me. (I actually really like the ads before movies, btw.)
DeleteAnd here I thought children's extracurricular activities were important. It's not like we need to foster physical skills or social skills in our children. Watching YouTube to learn to dance is just as good as taking classes and learning how to perform by participating in a recital!
DeleteYou've got all that right. Been there, done that with three daughters from ages 3 to 16. I cannot even begin to tally up all we spent over those years. They learned discipline though, and they do have lots of good memories too. My husband needed a whole year to steel himself for the next year's 3 hour recital.
ReplyDeleteYep, sounds about right.
ReplyDeleteWhy not take photos yourself and skip the DVD? My parents didn't have a lot of money when I was a kid, so I never got the professional photos/extras, and I don't seem to have suffered too much for it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's what we did this year. The other stuff is still a rip though.
DeleteI know, I know, went through all that with my two. We only bought the recording once, when Dad had to work on recital day, and sometimes bought the pictures if they turned out well. BUT if you hang in there, eventually your daughter will learn to do some amazing things. The last couple of years the recital dances were lovely. I think they would say now that it was a great experience for them. Even if I did have to schlep them all over creation and watch the all the dances at least twice during the everlasting rehearsals.
ReplyDeleteYou'll want to treasure these, and plan on having a flashback on these memories in what will seem like a blinkoftheeye years,
ReplyDeletewhen they are looking for $$$ prom/special event dresses, summer clothing, or walk out of their room wearing something so vulgar/inappropriate for church or grandmother's 80th birthday party you crack another old tooth.... and add a cost of crown to the experience.