I can’t believe this hasn’t been discussed before, but I couldn’t find the topic, so here goes. I wonder how much other people spend on their grandchildren for birthday and Xmas presents and how they decide.
I worked abroad for years, and earned enough to agree to most requests. The request to finance a school ski trip to the tune of £2000 stopped me dead in my tracks though!
Now that I am back in Europe, earning a nice low European wage, approaching retirement, and my uk granddaughters are teenagers the gap between their requests and my budget seems to be increasing somewhat.
The most recent request I sent for an early Xmas present present of a new school bag, Swedish brand, which retails at £75/90. This seems a lot for a school bag although I appreciate that a good one may be justified as she now has to bump a school laptop around with her.
I am going round and round in my mind about her perceived need for ‘street cred’, my desire to economise generally over the next couple of years before I retire (god help them then!), my son telling me that their mum (his ex) spends all her money on the horses and thus they don’t have any extras/luxuries unless he or I provide them and the knowledge that I have trained them from birth to expect me to buy them things. (Rod for my own back as they say!)
I can, in fact afford the bag, but am wondering whether this is the right way to proceed.
How do others deal with this?
