Just got this email.. figured I'd share....
Forwarded message--
The Price of Children
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 sand castles, 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.
'Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that
take our breath away...'
The Price of Children
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 sand castles, 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.
'Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that
take our breath away...'
