I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the
cost of raising a child, but this is the
first time I have seen the rewards listed
this way.
It's nice, really nice!!

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,
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, 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 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.


ENJOY YOUR KIDS AND GRANDKIDS!
"Life is not measured
by the number of breaths we take,
but the moments that take our breath away..."