THE COST OF KIDS
I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but
this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice,
really nice!
The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to
18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle-income family. Talk about
sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896 a
year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.24 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?
-
Naming rights
--- First, middle, and last!
-
Glimpses of God
everyday.
-
Giggles under
the covers every night.
-
More love than
your heart can hold.
-
Butterfly kisses
and Velcro hugs.
-
Endless wonder
over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
-
A hand to hold,
usually covered with jam.
-
A partner for
blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles, and skipping down
the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
-
Someone to laugh
yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or how your stocks
performed that day.
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.
-
You have an
excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching
Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney Land, and wishing on stars.
-
You get to frame
rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray
painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's
Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.
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 a wading pool,
coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never
wins but always get treated to ice cream regardless.
-
You get a front
row seat to history to witness the first step, first word, first date, and
first time behind the wheel. 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. You get an education in
psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality
that no college can match.
In the eyes of a child, you rank right up
there with God.
You have all the power to heal a booboo, scare away the monsters under the
bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and
love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without
counting the cost.
ENJOY YOUR KIDS! |
