Children: 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,
* $741.38 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 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.
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 tea that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream or pizza
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!!!!!!!


Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!