When my kids were little and we were all out at the store, sometimes a woman would come up to me and ask me what the name of my Day Care was? I was confused? Then they would go on talking about how they would like to put their kids in a Day Care, where the people would take their kids out on field trips ...like I was doing. I then told them that all these ( 4 ) children were mine...their eyes about popped out of their heads and then they just walked away, or might have said how cute they thought the kids were. Now obviously this was on one of those days ...where everyone was being nice and happy, not all of them were like that (shocker). I just smiled because no one could believe that we actually wanted four kids, they just thought we didn't know how to stop having them. How I wish I would have had this article, on the Price of Children to give to them...now that would have been priceless!
The Price of Children
This is just too good not to pass on to all. Something absolutely positive for a change. 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, 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,
· $741.3 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 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. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!http://www.rogerknapp.com/inspire/pricechildren.htm
Moral of this is...to love and enjoy your children and grandchildren
"Kids go where there is excitement. They stay where there is love." ~ Zig Ziglar
"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today." ~Stacia Tauscher
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