Kids are priceless
Though the cost of raising a child is high

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family.

Talk about price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down.

• $8,896.66 a year
• $741.38 a month
• $171.08 a week
• A mere $24.24 a day!
• Just over a dollar an hour

• Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
• Glimpses of God every day.
• Giggles under the covers
• 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 stocks performed that day.

• finger-paint,
• carve pumpkins,
• play hide-and-seek,
• catch lightning bugs,
• 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
• to 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 a mere $24.24 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 of bangs, and
• coaching a baseball 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 college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you're magic! 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…
• but love them without limits, so that one day they will – like you – love without counting the cost.

Now, you must admit, that is quite a deal for the price!