How much repayment is advisable for how much net income?

... it only reads like the previous speaker thinks the own garden has to be enough, end of story, off work.

But you can also easily get an IT guy out of a couch potato [emoji848]

However, they eat more chips again... speaking of which, I already got them out [emoji6]

An important foundation that one can give children is education. For me, this includes not only school education but also any other kind of general education. Whether it is through learning an instrument or practicing an artistic hobby or otherwise. Sports are not only good for health but also help develop social skills and personality. In everything a child does, they never become dumber but can always learn more. For this reason, we enable our children to participate in all activities they are interested in. For me, it is not just an expensive hobby if my child wants to play the piano or go riding, but an investment in their future. Music education is part of good general education, and playing the piano also trains fine motor skills and improves hand-eye coordination. Having to take care of an animal promotes a sense of responsibility and empathy.

For once, I actually agree with you.

You can also easily turn a couch potato into an IT guy [emoji848]

Well, I guess I'm pretty much alone here with my opinion. Many probably really think they have to "pull something together," "invest in the future," "promote talents."

My kids, on the other hand, are turning stupid in front of the iPad, not becoming socially competent IT specialists who just sit at home all day and at most are allowed to go outside into the garden from my way too big house. Tough luck for the kids.

And all because I doubt that kids cost as much as you think and that you HAVE to spend that much? Where has the good old factual discussion based on facts gone?

Keep optimizing all your children and your big talents, send them to piano lessons, to golf and tennis - preferably at 4 to become a super talent, as piano-playing golfers and at 8 to boarding school.

My kids play in the mud as long as they want and learn what they enjoy. There’s still time for a banking career later.

That is nonsense. Who has talked about selective breeding?

At least my children choose their hobbies themselves. When they were little, they also played in the mud. But a 15-year-old, for example, has little interest in that. Riding lessons and singing lessons are definitely more popular. Nothing is mandatory, everything is possible.

...
And all this because I doubt that children cost as much as you imagine and that you DON'T HAVE to spend that much? Where has the good old factual discussion based on facts gone?

...

Mistake. We are not telling you why children cost so much, we are just showing and listing examples of what it could be that a child certainly does not become cheaper after elementary school age, but rather more expensive (than you think).

I read all that relatively objectively with examples, though also somewhat naively and chuckling at our arguments in your exaggerated enumeration.

Children grow up and develop their own will, whether you like it or not. And playing in the mud, none of us excludes that, as long as it happens in a sandbox.

Only somehow you don’t seem to understand that between the sandbox and education there are still 15 more years full of creativity, recklessness, and thirst for knowledge.

Riding lessons and singing lessons are definitely more popular. Nothing is mandatory, everything is optional.

For me, there is a certain limitation here. Our children are allowed to choose a hobby or an "activity," but they have to stick with it. Swimming and piano today - drums and rugby tomorrow, we don't go along with that because that certainly doesn't train "perseverance." The phases of enduring frustration and continuing to practice shape character in a positive way.