The Price of Children

This is just too good not to pass on to all. Something absolutely positive for a change. I have repeatedly seen the break down of the cost of raising a child but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice!

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.

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 $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich." actually it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First,middle and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* 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 jelly or chocolate.
*A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites
* 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 movies
* wishing on stars.
and
* 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 a bike
* removing a splinter
* filling a wading pool
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs
and
*coaching a sport's team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream or pizza 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 and if you're lucky a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great 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 under God. 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 one day they will like your love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!