The Price of Children

I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I haveseen the rewards listed this way. It's nice, reallynice!!
The government recently calculated the cost of raisinga child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 fora middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touchcollege tuition. But $160,140 isn't so bad if youbreak 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. So 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 warmcookies. A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly orchocolate. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, buildingsand castles, andskipping 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 fingerprint, carve pumpkins, play house,catch lightningbugs, 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 Disneymovies, and wishingon 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, along 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, patcha broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you,love withoutcounting the cost.

ENJOY YOUR CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN! "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away"