When my second daughter was born, I knew that with two girls my life would be filled with pink tutus and ballet shoes for years to come and I was thrilled. Seven (almost 8) years later, we have two dancers and plenty of dance costumes and shoes strewn around the house.

And I love it. I love seeing the girls dance on stage and I even have become a Dance Mom (but not the crazy kind… YET).

I’m also a drama mom, a basketball mom, a piano and singing lesson mom and a hockey mom. Our evenings and weekends are filled with activities that our girls enjoy. So while our schedule is full, our bank account is not – extra curricular activities are expensive!

So is an education. I often wonder if we’re doing the right thing by spending a lot of money now to give the girls the experiences that they are getting through these activities while sacrificing their future education savings account. Average university tuition fees increased by 3.3 per cent to $5,772 a year for an undergraduate degree in 2013, and could be as much as $9,000 a year by 2026 (based on a 4 per cent year over year rate increase). Yikes!

My youngest daughter, Madness as we like to call her, is a “hockey girl.” She lives to play hockey, watch hockey and argue about which team is the best (she’s a Toronto fan). While she loves to dance and wear the girly costumes and makeup, she’s a hockey player at heart and I love seeing her little pink helmet out on the ice. This picture was taken in August when she decided one day (one very HOT day) to try on her hockey gear to make sure she would be ready when it was time to take to the ice in the Fall.

She wants to be a hockey player when she grows up. She told me last week that when she “gets retired from hockey” she wants to then be a coach. I hope she reaches those goals but in the meantime, I’m going to do what I can to make sure that she has access to any educational opportunities that will help her and her sister fulfill their dreams. So we have been tucking away a bit of money here and there in RESPs. We’re lucky that the girls’ grandparents are also investing in their future education.

C.S.T. Consultants Inc. understand the benefits of extracurricular activities, but don’t feel they should come at the price of investing in your child’s education. As parents we all dream to see our children do well in life. With that in mind CST is launching a new community education initiative. They’re inviting hockey communities (teams or associations) to share what they’re doing for their community and to encourage the educational success amongst their players. In turn, they will get the chance to compete for $10,000 to go towards their program and help alleviate the cost of hockey for parents. To learn more about this program, visit: www.beyondtheblueline.ca.

I’ll be working with our local hockey association to participate in the Beyond the Blueline program. I hope you will do the same in your community so that parents can continue to save for their children’s’ education AND kids get to participate in sports and activities they love.

Sorry, I have to run. It’s a busy night here with hockey, basketball AND dance… on the road again!

“Disclosure: I am part of the C.S.T. Consultants Inc. – Beyond the blue line blogger program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”