What costs so much with kids...
Food...it's expensive here.
Sports activities
entertainment in general - nothing is free
birthday parties
uniforms
music lessons
school trips...and I'm not talking about going to the zoo
like someone mentioned above...the many charity events schools put on
additional school costs & fees that are over the EK allowance or not covered
Travel expenses...staff tickets are not free and rather costly
tickets to go home..on our ALT EK doesn't cover to our home airport
additional medical insurance coverage for the children (as EK lowered the monetary amount children are covered up to a few years back)
Dubai is expensive, and with children it's VERY expensive.