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.

 

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

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 believing in Santa; You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh and wishing on stars

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets; You get to collect noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's & 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, and taking training wheels off the bike; You get to be a hero for removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, and coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs; You get to be a hero for coaching a baseball team that never wins but gets treated to ice cream regardless

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. You get to be immortal  You get another branch added to your family tree.  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 and grandkids – their only young for a short time!    

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