The Price of Kids

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. For those with kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about all the money we could have banked if not for (insert your child's name here). For others, that number might confirm the decision to remain childless. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.44 a day! Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have children if you want to be "rich." It is just the opposite. What do your get for your $160,140?

1. Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
   
   
2. Glimpses of God every day.
   
   
3. Giggles under the covers every night.
   
   
4. More love than your heart can hold.
   
   
5. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
   
   
6. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
   
   
7. A hand to hold, usually covered with jam
   
   
8. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles,
   and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
   
   
9. Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said
   or how your stocks performed that day.
   
   
10. For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to
    finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never
    stop believing in Santa Claus.
    
    
11. You have an excuse to keep: reading the Adventures of Piglet and
    Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and
    wishing on stars.
    
    
12. You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator
    magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,
    handprints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for
    Father's Day.
    
    
13. For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to
    be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the
    training wheels off the bike, removing a splinter, filling the wading
    pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team
    that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
    
    
14. You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step,
    first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel.
    
    
15. You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your
    family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary
    called grandchildren.
    
    
16. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice,
    communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
    
    
17. In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with God.
    
    
18. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters
    under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground
    them forever, and love them without limits... so that one day they, like
    you, love without counting the cost.
    

ENJOY YOUR KIDS AND GRANDKIDS!