THe Cost of a Child

I received this last year at the boys' Pre K 4 graduation. Kept meaning to blog it but kept forgetting. Came across it during the move. It is very true.

A few years ago the government calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about a shocker. That doesnt even touch college tutition. That figure leads to wild fantasies about all the money we could have saved if not for the birth of our child. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It tranlates to $8896.66 a year or $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That is a mere $24.44 a day! Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advisor might say don't have children if you want to be rich. It is just the opposite.
What do you get for $160,140?
Naming rights. First, middle and last.
Glimpses of God every day. Giggles unser the covers every night.
More love than your heart cold hold. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds and warm cookies.
A hand to hold usually covered with jelly.
A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, builiding sandcastles and skipping down the sidewalk inthe pouring rain.
Someone to laugh yourself sill with-no matter what the boss said or how you 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 lightening bugs and never stop believeing in Santa.
You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Sunday morning cartoons, and wishin on stars.
You get to fram rainbows, hearts and flowers under refridgerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreathc for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day and card with backward letter for Father's Day.
You get to be a hero for retreiving a Frisbee off the garage roof, removing a splinter, filling the wading pool and coaching a baseball team that never winds but gets treated to ice cream regardless.
You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, the first word, first bra, first date and first time behind the wheel.
You got to be immortal. you get another branch added to your family tree and if you lucky, a long list of limbs called grandchildren.
You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, and communications that no college can match.
In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with God, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.
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 cost.