Parenting can be very hard work and arguably more so today with all the demands of working parents and kids that are tempted by a daily assault from the media such that they believe they have a right to everything….Now!
Apparently the US government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $320,000 (we’ll use A$ to make it more relevant) for a middle income family. That doesn’t include University fees either.
So here’s another view on the value you get from all that cash (I’ve taken the liberty of ‘deamericanising’ it a bit). It would be easy to agree with the statement ‘Don’t have children if you want to be rich’ but the following does actually, prove the opposite. It all depends on how you define ‘rich’.
$320,000 isn’t so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
– $18000 a year,
– $1500 a month,
– $320 a week.
– A mere $50 a day!
– Just over $2 an hour.
What do you get for your $320,000?
– 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 and flying kites.
– Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your shares performed that day.
For $320,000 you never have to grow up. You get to:
– finger-paint,
– carve pumpkins,
– play hide-and-seek,
– catch bugs,
– have pillow fights
– never stop believing in Santa Claus.
You have an excuse to:
– keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh (Yay!)
– 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 a boot load of shells and sticks, hand prints set in clay for Mother’s Day, and cards with backward letters for Father’s Day.
For a mere $50.00 a day, 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 a fringe, and
– coaching a cricket team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
You get a front row seat in history to witness the:
– First step,
– First word,
– First bra,
– First date,
– 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 university 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!!!!!!! Just got to keep reminding ourselves of that fact!