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 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, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch

lightning bugs, Pop popcorn, play word games, make a cake at 11pm 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.

At times when they speak, you can hear angels.

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.