Thursday, March 18, 2004

Cost of a child

The U.S. 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 $160,140.00 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 says:
“don't have children if you want to be "rich." “ It is
just the opposite.

What do you get for you $160,140.00?
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, even if it is 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 $160,140.00, 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
Pooh and watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to
Disney movies, and wishing on stars.
You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under
refrigerator magnets.
You get to 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 $160,140.00, there is no better purchase.
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 that never wins, but always gets treated
to ice cream.
You get a front row seat to history. You get to
witness the first step, the 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.
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.

From Sharda

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