$160,140.00

I found this on another adoption blog I ran across today. I am not sure if $160,140.00 is really what they government thinks it costs to raise a child. I just thought the rest was very touching. Even if I missed some of my kids first steps, words or first smile.... I still get to be the first one they hug each morning and be the first one they ask for when they are sick. I was the first to see them ride a bike, swim in a pool, catch a football, hit a baseball, walk into a school and hear them read their first words. I get to kiss them good night at bed time and wake them up with kisses in the morning. There will be many more firsts in our lives and I can not wait to experience them with each of my children. $160,140.00 doesn't seem like a lot of money over 18 years. However, I think all of the blessings these children are to me is priceless.

The Price of a Child

We have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but 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 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 per year,

$741.38 per month, or

$171.08 per 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

You have an excuse to:

• keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh
  
• watching Saturday morning cartoons
  
• go to Disney movies
  
• 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 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 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!!!!!!!

Love and enjoy your children and grandchildren.