The Cost of Kids

The Cost of Kids
by Anonymous

We have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time we have seen the rewards listed this way.

It's a better view of the way it is!

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 sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

$8,896 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 your get for your $160,140?

1. Naming rights – First, middle and last!

2. Glimpses of God everyday.

3. Giggles under the covers every night.

4. More love than your heart can hold.

5. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

6. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds and warm cookies.

7. A hand to hold, usually covered with jam.

8. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.

9. Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

10. 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 (or Harry Potter), watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney Land 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 that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

Ever wish you could know what you know now, and go back through growing up again with that knowledge?? With children, you get to do that! You get to grow up again knowing adult answers to children(??)’s questions(??).

You get a front row seat in history to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date and first time behind the wheel.
You get to be immortal, and have your blood, ideas and mannerisms live on.
Memories and stories of you will live on long past the beating of your heart.
You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky a long list of arms in your obituary called 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(??) are the closest thing to God on this Earth.
You get to see just a glimpse now and then of maybe how God looks at His children.?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.

They are one of the greatest gifts God gives us.

ENROLL NOW!

Last Updated: July 31, 2006
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