The Cost 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.

But, when you actually think about it, $160,140 isn't so back if you break
it down.

It translates to $8,896 per year.
That's $741.38 per month.
$171.08 per week.
And a mere $24.24 per day.
Just over $1 per hour, actually.

Still, you might think the best financial advice says, don't have children
if you want to be "rich."

Then again, look at it this way and it might be just the opposite.

Here's what you 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-seed, 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 Disneyland 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
  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, along
  list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren.
• You get an education in 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