TennVolTony
Thief of Thongs
- Joined
- Sep 17, 1999
- Messages
- 2,441
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... or 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." It is just the opposite! Here's 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.
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, 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, 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 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
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. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal
justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
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... or 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." It is just the opposite! Here's 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.
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, 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, 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 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
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. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal
justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
