The price of a child...
This is just too good not to pass on to all. Something absolutely
positive for a change. Please share this.
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. 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 $24.24 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?
*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, flying kites
* 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 wit h 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 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 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 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.....
