MODERN FAMILY

WHEN people ask about the differences between our two sons, I say that you can tell a lot by their different attitudes to money.

While son senior always manages to have some money tucked away because he saves and hoards, it trickles through son junior’s fingers like sand.

One will consider and research a purchase before spending his pennies, while the other takes after his mother and tends to be more of a, shall we say, “impulse buyer” who thinks of the financial consequences later.

They could take a leaf out of the entrepreneurial 15-year-old schoolboy from London who has reportedly been making £230 a day through a tuck shop empire run out of his school.

Nathan John-Baptiste, who has been dubbed the “Wolf of Walthamstow”, started his business at the age of 12 in his lunch break at school, selling sweets and fizzy drinks to his classmates.

Starting with just £5 and running his shop out of the boys’ toilets, his venture has since grown into a £230-a-day business with 11 employees working across three schools, and a weekly turnover of £1,150.

Maybe if they did have this sort of attitude we could afford some more treats – like a holiday, a second car or going to see a few more concerts.

Because going to watch your favourite singer or band is definitely a luxury.

When Ed Sheeran announced he was coming to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, there was a lot of excitement in our house (apart from one grown-up, who will only describe him as “That Ginger Busker”).

The price of the tickets was not revealed, probably because when the tickets went on sale they were up to £80 each – that means it could cost our family of four up to £320 for one night out. Tickets for Coldplay, who are performing in Cardiff this week, are the same.

Between 1981 and 2012 the average cost of a concert ticket increased by 400%, making a lot of music gigs inaccessible – especially for families.

The first Glastonbury in 1970 cost a pound. Compare that to this year, with tickets costing £238, plus a £5 booking fee. Again, a family of four could spend a fortnight camping in the south of France for that kind of money.

But a big-name concert is a rite of passage – the excitement of the build-up to the day and then the thrill of watching your heroes on the stage. The things you’ll never forget.

We don’t have to worry as there is another person in our house who is good with money – and he is holding the purse strings.

Although during a momentary lack of concentration he did promise son junior he would take him to the next Foo Fighters concert.

Hands up who is going to be the one to tell him the only tickets I could find left cost £352... each.