Received this in email tonight and thought you all would like it, especially you Dads;
Lew W
THE COST OF KIDS
I have seen repeatedly, the breakdown of the cost of raising a kid,
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 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 says don't have kids.
This is what 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 jam.
A partner for blowing bubbles,flying kites, building sandcastles,
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, 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 the bike,removing a splinter, filling 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'er 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.
In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with 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 counting the cost.
ENJOY