No wonder I am not a grandparent yet! Having just read
this article in CNN Money, I suspect my (very smart and fiscally responsible adult) kids have decided they can't afford to have children!
Yes, I know babies often come along without any planning, but I suspect I raised kids who are logical and pragmatic enough to actually think this decision through --
Apparently it now costs nearly 40% more (and that's NOT including designer duds or college tuition) for a middle-income, two-parent family to raise a child to age 18 than it did just 10 years ago. That percentage figure works out to about an additional $60,000 if you are into actual numbers, by the way...
Oh, the actual dollar figure? Apparently it averaged $226,920 last year.
I got started on this line of thought because I just read a "poem" - attributed to anonymous, sadly -- that talked about the costs/value of raising a child.
It was part of a thought-provoking essay questioning whether or not having kids is a good bargain. (Of course they are.)
The poem stated a cost per child figure, and I started wondering just how accurate that number was. It's a great essay/poem, by the way, even though the numbers are too low for today. Here 'tis:
The Price of Children
Author Unknown
The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 years of age 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,
$741.3 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!
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 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, 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, watch Saturday morning cartoons, 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 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.
One day they will love you without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!
Previous Topic
Index
