The government recently calculated the cost of raising
a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income
family. Talk about sticker shock! 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 translates 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, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs,
and fly kites.
You
have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and
Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, and going to Disney
movies.
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 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, a long list of limbs in your obituary
called
grandchildren.
You
get 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.