THE AVERAGE FAMILY is shelling out nearly €1700 a year and spending over 100 hours on the road to support their childrens’ hobbies.

A survey of 250 mums and dads from across Ireland for retailer Argos found parents were paying an average of €840 every year on out-of-school activities for each of their children.

The average Irish household with children has two kids, according to the most recent census, which would bring the average bill for extra-curricular pursuits to €1680 a year.

Respondents also said the activities also took up an average 104 hours a year, or two hours a week, in transport time ferrying their kids to and from their hobbies.

Many parents reported their children doing two or three activities a week with football, swimming, dance and athletics the most popular hobbies.
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Nearly three quarters of those surveyed said they encouraged their children to take up a sport or activity out of school and 77% wanted their kids to do something they missed out on in their own youth.

So what else could you do with all that cash and spare time?

But in case any parents are thinking twice about spending €1680 every year on their offspring, here are three of TheJournal.ie’s quick suggestions for what you could afford if you ditched the dance classes or swimming practice:

1. Take a week-long (and child-free) luxury holiday somewhere like this in Sicily

roberto / Flickr roberto / Flickr / Flickr

2. Buy a new iPhone 6 and put it in a blender. Then go and buy another one, just because you can

3. Eat an eight-course degustation menu (with wine of course) at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, Ireland’s only two Michelin-starred restaurant. Four nights in a row

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