The Price of Children

OS-Aussie

Adventurer
The 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 price 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,
* $171.08 a week.

* 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.

What do you get for your $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 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 $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:


* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs,
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and wish 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 a mere $24.24 a day, 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 in history to witness the:

* First step,
* First word,
* First bra,
* First date,
* 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!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren!!!!!!!
It's the best investment
you'll ever make!!!!!!!!!

(Lovingly stolen and posted )
 

IH8RDS

Explorer
its worth it. We have 6. :wings:

What I hope will be really neat is when I am old and gray and get to see all the branches with grandchildren.
 

Fergie

Expedition Leader
Worth every penny, every worry, every sleepless night.

My life has been changed for the better!
 

Bill Beers

Explorer
It's getting harder and harder for me to imagine my life before I became a Super Finder, Super Fixer, Robot Dad and Normal Dad to my girls!

To quote Fergie, they are indeed "worth every penny, worth every sleepless night!"

-Bill
 

Pskhaat

2005 Expedition Trophy Champion
$24 a day seems low to me. Many thousands of dollars extra per year per child on health care, increased life insurance for both parents, larger vehicles (yes when other cars don't even have enough seat belts), fuel for commuting to mandated schooling, frequent copays, organic foods for the first few years, clothing and shoes seemingly every week, endless laundry, lights left on, loss of sleep causing loss of career promotions, extra cooking, sippy cups and onesies, high chairs, &c &c. Priced a car seat lately, strollers, hot bath water and bubble soap, crib, baby monitor. I could go on and on and on :) Don't get me started on the price vs. value of pre-school.
 

NikonRon

Adventurer
And when they grow into adults you'll miss those little children everyday. But now we have grandchildren. Worth every penny? You better believe it! :) Ron

2- daughters here. 24 and 30 yrs. old
2- grandsons 3 wks. and 8 yrs. old
 

Maddmatt

Explorer
Yeah, I'm with Pshkaat - $24/day feels cheap, but I've only got two - maybe there's an economy of scale I'm missing.


I'll happily pay whatever it costs.
 

Bill Beers

Explorer
$24/day must be over their lifetimes. Hell, I'm at $1200/month right now for daycare. Thankfully, the older one starts school soon!

-Bill
 

James86004

Expedition Leader
Not only bigger vehicles to haul things around, but you are less willing to put up with a vehicle that breaks down by the side of the road, so you have to spend more on either a newer one, or more on fixing things.

There is nothing like having a kid with you to break the ice with strangers when you are traveling. I think half the reason we got on so well out in the remote countryside in Japan is we brought our 6-year-old out there with us.

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