| The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't’ even touch college tuition.
But $160,140.00 isn’t so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
- $8,896.66 a year
- $741.38 a month
- $171.08 a week
- That’s a mere $24.24 a day!
- Just over a dollar an hour.
What do you get for your $160,140.00?
- Naming rights. First, middle and last!
- 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 cookies.
- A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
- A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
- Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140.00 you never have to grow up. You get to:
- Finger-paint
- Carve pumpkins
- Play hide-and-seek
- Catch lighting bugs
- Never stop believing in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or Peter Pan
You have an excuse to:
- Keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh Bear
- Go to Disney movies and wish 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 backwards letter for Father’s Day.
For a mere $24.24 a day, 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 in history to witness the:
- First step
- First word
- First date
- 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 life called grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. 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, explain puberty, police a slumber party, ground them forever, applaud their accomplishments, 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!!!!
Adapted from North Coast Child Abuse Prevention Council Regional Coalition Newsletter 11/06 |