Summer Fun for Kids — at what price?

From USA Today:

How about you? How much do you spend? Is this become a pressure to conform to what other families are doing?

Americans are expected to spend more than $600 per child, on average, to keep their kids entertained this summer, according to the results of the latest American Express Spending and Savings tracker.

Affluent families, which the survey defines as those having a household income of more than $100,000, will spend nearly double that amount at more than $1,115 per child.

This spending includes activities, such as summer camps, day trips to theme parks and pool club memberships, among other things, and includes child care.

Taken together, the cost of keeping kids occupied when school’s out amounts to about $16.6 billion, according to this research. To complete the survey, American Express polled a random sample of 1,500 adults online from June 5-8 on what they expected to spend.

Of course, expenses vary by region, with those in the Northeast tending to spend more than in other regions.

It is also worth noting that costs this year are expected to be either similar with last year, or higher than a year ago, according to reports from those in the poll. This was the first time the spending tracker asked about spending on children’s summer activities.

“American kids seem to be much more scheduled than in the past,” said Melanie Backs, an American Express spokeswoman, explaining why the questions were added to the survey.