The Price of a Child

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. For those with kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about all the money we could have banked if not for (insert your child's name here). For others, that number might confirm the decision to remain childless. But $160,140 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 $24.44 a day! Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have children if you want to be "rich". It is just the opposite. What do your 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 jam.
• A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, 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, play hide-and-seek and catch lightning bugs.
• You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets, 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 the bike, removing a splinter, filling the 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, 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.
• You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
• You have all the power to heal a scrape, patch a broken heart, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

Yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not come yet. Live just for today. All of the tomorrows are brand new today's.