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The
Real Cost Of Raising
A Child
A
few years ago the government 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
* $171.09 a week.
* That's a mere $24.37 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, 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 a 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 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, 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 you, love without counting the cost.
That is
quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!
Contributed
by
James Odle, Jr.
Defining
Moments
Archives
Copyright
© 2006, Jace Carlton. All International Rights Reserved.
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