A Birmingham mum has shared the devastating impact the cost of living crisis is having on families, with children more aware than ever of the struggles facing the city.
Aysha Aslam, 34, an IT project manager from Sparkhill, is one of dozens of parents across the city being forced to cut back in numerous areas of life due to the cost of living crisis.
Working parents squeezed
Speaking to BirminghamLive, Aysha explained how both her husband and her work, but even with two incomes funding a family of four, she has been forced to keep a "tight budget," with her two sons more aware than ever of the cost of living crisis.
She said: "Myself and my husband are both working parents. As time's gone on, we're getting squeezed more and more. Council Tax is increasing in Birmingham year on year, taxes in general are going up and your bills are going up."
Aysha went on: "Every time we go to the supermarket, it's a shock looking at the total. Week by week prices are going up."
Children affected
The mum-of-two explained as a result of the increasing prices, her family have had to keep a "tight budget" which has meant having "very little" disposable income to spend on non-essential activities, including for her children.
She said: "We try not to affect the children. But, the thing is, with clubs and extracurricular activities, it's hard. You get them into activities and then you're like, it is adding up."
Aysha explained how the family were forced to take their little ones out of kickboxing as it was 'just adding up too much,' with the mum sharing how she has had to try and encourage her children to take part in more 'free activities' instead of 'paid for clubs' due to the pressures of rising costs.
Speaking of the difficult decisions she has had to make, the mum went on: "Every parent wants to give their child everything, right? That's your dream when you have children. You want to be able to provide for them and do whatever makes them happy. It's just in your nature as a parent, but the reality is, you have to say no."
Awareness from a young age
Aysha worryingly expressed how children are becoming more and more aware from a young age of the cost of living, with the mum detailing how her own little ones are aware of the crisis at the moment.
"They definitely do understand there's a cost of living crisis. I think you can see that around because we live in Sparkhill, and it's quite a deprived area," she said.
She went on: "If we go out of Birmingham, it's a bit different in regards to living standards. So here you can definitely see that."
No end in sight
For Aysha, there is no doubt in her mind that the cost of living crisis has 'got worse,' with the mum describing how 'everything seems to be going up and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.'
She said: "It's got worse because everything just seems to be going up and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight for the price increases. The wages have not gone up in line with that, so we're just expected to make ends meet and make things work, but it's difficult because there's only so many things you can do."
Aysha listed how the family has had to cut back by getting rid of the family's second car, with her husband more frequently partaking in lift sharing to reduce costs, as well as the mum thinking twice before purchasing goods, and stopping taking holidays.
She went on: "We try to be as sensible as we can, because we just expect that this is the new norm now. It's always going to be the case that the prices are just going to keep going up and up."
