The Price of Kids...
This is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from
birth to 18 and came up with $160,140. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

* $8,896.66 a year,
or
* $741.38 a month,
or
* $171.08 a week.
now...
* That's a mere $24.24 a day
at
* 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.

So 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,
* 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, 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 day of school,
* first date,
* first time behind the wheel,
* graduation day from high school & then college, and
* wedding days and grandchildren.

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 broke! n 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.
And that is a great deal for the price!!!!!
Passed on by www.nemothers.org
Real Jobs. Real Life. Real Simple.

CLICK ON COMMENT TO ADD YOUR THOUGHTS!
CLICK THE ENVELOPE TO E-MAIL TO A FRIEND!