Brace yourself, not too many years to big bucks time. College costs in 18 years or so should be eye opening. In my case, in 3 decades cost was up about 10 times. Nice to be done.
From Usenet, no idea if true, sounds about right.
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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 sand
castles.
And skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss
said or how poorly 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 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.
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.
What a deal! ENJOY THEM... |
