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| The Cost of Raising Children compliments of everychildfirst.com On the news recently, I saw a breakdown of the cost of raising children. The government calculates the cost of raising a child to age 18 as $160,140 for a middle income family – and that does NOT include a college education! Talk about sticker shock! For those of us with children, that could lead to wild fantasies about what we could have done with that money if not for _________ (insert your child’s name here)! For others, that might confirm their decision to remain childless – after all, in many areas that’s the cost of a house you can live in for the rest of your life. The rest of your life…hmmmm. You know, $160,140 isn’t as bad as it seems when you break it down… that’s $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That’s less than $25 a day, just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice would be to remain childless and invest that money in stocks, or a retirement account, if you want to be rich. But just the opposite is true – so what do you get for your $160,140? Naming rights – first, middle and last. A glimpse of God’s face the first time you look at your newborn child, and more glimpses every time they are sleeping soundly for the next 18 years. Giggles under the covers, sticky fingered hugs, and more love than your heart can hold. Endless wonder over clouds, bugs, flowers, and fireworks. A partner for blowing bubbles, building sandcastles, watching cartoons, playing board games, playing in the rain, riding bicycles, cruisin’ the mall. An excuse to watch all those movies you loved as a kid. A million kisses. Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what your boss said, or your spouse didn’t. For $160,140 you never have to grow up. You get to finger paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, sleep in a tent, catch lightening bugs and never stop believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. You have an excuse to keep reading Dr. Seuss books, go to Disney movies, and wish on stars. You get to cover your refrigerator with tests with gold stars and stick figure drawings where you look like a mutant alien with a heart drawn around you. You get to collect hand print wreaths, noodle necklaces, and misshapen clay pencil holders. You get Hallmark cards that make you cry, and hand drawn cards with backwards letters that make you cry even harder. For $160,140 there is no greater bang for your buck – you get to be a hero just for rescuing a Frisbee or a cat from a tree, taking the training wheels off a bike, turning on the sprinkler and coaching a little league team that never wins but gets treated to ice cream anyway. You get a front row seat to history where you witness the first word, first step, first bra, first date and first time behind the wheel – and you survive them all, although possibly with some new gray hairs. You get to be immortal. You get another branch added onto your family tree, and if you’re lucky many new limbs called grandchildren. You get to catch glimpses of your parents in the faces of your children – you might even see yourself. You get an education. You get training in human development, crisis management, psychology, communications, nursing, criminal justice and human sexuality that no university can match. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters in the closet, calm nightmares, police a slumber party, negotiate car driving privileges, ground them forever and love them without limits, so that one day they too can love without counting the cost. In the eyes of a child, you get to be the face of a loving God. |