The Cost Of Kids

I would like to prelude this by saying that I did NOT write this myself. However, the author is unknown to me, but another very special mom shared this with me when my oldest daughter was a baby and I just loved it so much that it has hung on my refrigerator ever since. I was reading it again today and thought it would be nice to share.

The Cost Of Kids

It seems that many try to breakdown the cost of raising a child from birth to 18. They came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock!!! That does not include college tuition. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down: $8,896.66/year, $741.38/month and only $24.37/day!!! Just over a dollar an hour... and still some may think that the best financial advice is to never have children if you want to be rich!

Its really just the opposite... Look at what you get for you $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

A hand to hold, usually covered with jam

A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles, and skipping down sidewalks 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 backwards 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 of the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the 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 get 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 will be immortal

You get another branch added to your family tree and if your lucky, a long list of limbs to your obituary called 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 with God

You have 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

Cherish the moments, time is so fleeting.