The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth
to
18 and came up $160,140! That doesn't even touch
college tuition.
For those with kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about all the
money we could have banked if not for (insert your child's name
here). For others, that number might confirm the decision to remain
childless.
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It t
ranslates into
$8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a
mere $24.44 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 your 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 jam.
- A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, 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-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 the bike, removing a splinter, filling the
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 r
ow seat to history to witness the first step, first
word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel.
- 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 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.
- You also have the wonderful benefit of eating [low calorie] egg salad
sandwiches for 2 weeks straight... after Easter Sunday each year.
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS!! ENJOY YOUR KIDS AND GRANDKIDS!
--Author unknown; found circulating the Web via email.
