Letter: The cost of teenagers

The cost of teenagers

Sir: Your front page report ("Bad news for parents: Teenagers cost pounds 36 a day", 27 May) is misleading.

In truth, teenagers are as costly as parents can afford to allow them to be; which, in my experience, is considerably less than pounds 36 a day. My own children have long since flown the nest, and I am retired but my weekly earnings when we were raising our family, even before deductions, fell well short of such a figure.

It is a pity that our youth are led to believe that computers, personal CD players, and mobile telephones are essential adjuncts to life. The plain fact is: if you cannot afford to give your children such advantages - and few parents can - they will have to resign themselves to life without them.

PETER FOOKS

Edwalton,

Nottingham