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#730241 - 05/11/07 03:05 AM The Price of Children
Carly Girl Offline
Power Poster
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,778
TEXAS
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

* 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 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!!!!!!!



This is what makes it all worthwhile to be a MOTHER !

Happy Mothers Day to all you mommies out there.
_________________________

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#730256 - 05/11/07 10:49 AM Re: The Price of Children Carly Girl
Retired DQ Offline
10K Club
Retired DQ
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 40,766
Turnpike Exit 10
Thanks, that was nice.
_________________________
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - Mark Twain

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#730268 - 05/11/07 12:26 PM Re: The Price of Children Carly Girl
Pale Rider Offline
10K Club
Pale Rider
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 34,318
under the Lone Star
Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
_________________________
Societies that do not find work in and of itself "pleasing to God and requisite to Man," tend to be highly corrupt.


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#730281 - 05/11/07 12:53 PM Re: The Price of Children Pale Rider
Nanwa Offline
Power Poster
Nanwa
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5,564
Clintonville, WI, USA
I just watched CSI last night. Lady Heather found out she had a grandchild, and sold her business to set up a trust fund to raise the child. She calculated the cost of raising a child, including college, was $800,000 +. She came up with an odd figure, like $854,375.52, which Grissom interpreted as her exact calculation of the cost, since Lady Heather is a smart and detailed person.
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Member of the National Sarcasm Society - like we need your support!

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#730298 - 05/11/07 01:19 PM Re: The Price of Children Carly Girl
Miscuit Offline
10K Club
Miscuit
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 18,789
TX
TG!! Howdy stranger! Have you been behaving yourself? Good to see you around here.

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