IT'S six weeks of fun for the kids and six weeks of spending for mum and dad. The Argus looks at the cost of keeping children busy during the summer holidays.

In Enid Blyton's day, four children and a dog could set out armed only with delicious home-made lemonade and sandwiches and enjoy a whole summer of fun and excitement.

But in modern Britain, keeping the family amused over the six-week summer break is likely to cost hundreds of pounds.

Recent surveys have put the cost of a child during summer at between £850 and £1,200 for the whole six weeks.

And Britain's parents will spend £1.78 billion before September on childcare, holidays, days out and treats for their youngsters. Virgin estimated that just one day trip costs approximately £43 per child - and the total cost of day trips over the summer will add up to about £320. The Abbey Bank's survey of almost 2,000 parents showed they spend an average of £100 a week on childcare and a further £100 on keeping their little ones amused.

Jonathan Deacon, head of marketing at Newport Business School, admits that parents are under a lot of pressure to keep their children entertained over the summer - and that big companies know it.

"The concept of pester power is about trying to hit the target market - and in this case the target market is children," he said.

"Some countries have banned TV advertising to children under 12, Sweden for example, and there is legislation in place to stop companies from directly targeting children to pester the adult purchaser." Companies will circumvent that in producing characters and products to appeal to a younger market.

"It's estimated that approximately £35 to £40 billion spent in the UK each year is influenced by the preferences of children. It's not just sweets - 40 per cent of holiday decisions have an element of pester power, 20 to 25 per cent of TV and hi-fi buying, and about 20 per cent of car purchase decisions.

"And those will be influenced by the children's awareness of brands and marketing, which they've been exposed to from a much younger age than any other generation.

"One particular effect of the summer is that the big blockbuster films aimed at children are out, and on the back of those are all the tie-ins like toys, especially at fast-food places."

Even a simple trip to the cinema with the kids can end up taking a heavy toll on parents' pockets. A father taking his two children to see Shrek 2 at Newport's UGC Cinema and booking tickets in advance would cost £12.60.

Soft drinks for dad and the youngsters will cost another £6, and a half-pound bag of pick 'n' mix brings the total up by another £1.90. Going for a meal afterwards at McDonald's will bump up the cost even more.

Two Happy Meals for the kids and a Big Mac meal for hungry dad adds £7.17 to the total - making the final price £27.17 without even including petrol. And that's just for a few hours of relatively low-cost entertainment. A family trip to Alton Towers costs £82 for a family ticket, with lunch at an estimated £22, snacks adding at least another £10, £21 of souvenirs and £45 for petrol, bringing the total to a cool £180.

But though there are always going to be costs associated with summer fun, the parents themselves hold the key to keeping it cheap - and teaching their children they don't have to spend a lot of money to have a good time.

Jim Wilson, a registered psychotherapist living in Newport who works with families, said: "The job of the parent is to not succumb to that temptation to give in and spend.

"If we give too much too soon it leads to a spiral of future demands. Children need to understand that what they get is valuable. They should be able to make requests and express their opinions clearly but they shouldn't be given in to.

"In the summer we're inclined to give our children bigger treats and let the rules go but if the rules then go for the rest of the year then there's nothing to look forward to. As long as they've got friendships and something other to do than sit in front of the computer or the TV then summer should still be special.

"They should still look forward to their holidays. It's all about trying to encourage the children to be out playing creatively, rather than always going for the easy option." \