Friday 24 August 2012
Thursday 23 August 2012
You are Precious!
The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from
birth to age 18 and came up with $160,140! That doesn't even touch
college tuition. For those with kids, this figure leads to wild
fantasies about all the money we could have banked if not for (insert
your child's name here). For others, that number might confirm the
decision to remain childless.
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
$24.44 a Day! Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have
children if you ever want to be "rich." It is just the opposite.
What do you get for your $160,140?
- Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
- 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, 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
magnet 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 the 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'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.
- 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 without counting the cost.
ENJOY YOUR CHILDREN... and Your Grandchildren!!
Saturday 18 August 2012
Friday 17 August 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)