Posted on 12/20/2001 5:09:17 AM PST by MHGinTN
How 'bout this one to pull at your heart strings.
Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, fellow Freepers! ... Remember, it's supposed to be a birthday party celebration. Happy Birthday, Jesus!!
THE COST OF KIDS
I have seen repeatedly the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice, really nice!!
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! Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have children if you want to be "rich." It is just the opposite. What do your 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 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 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 KIDS AND GRANDKIDS.
[I would add only one thing more: the cost is really low when you consider that for the first three years or so, you have the rare privilege of being around someone who has recently been in God's presence ... and come to this place to be with you! Thank You, Lord!]
If one can eat, two can eat, if two can eat, three can eat. Children are so great.
Psalm 127:3-5: 3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
The best parents are those who adopt. They need to be praised more. They are the greatest!
Little kids also have a way of stripping it all down to the basic questions. They do a heck of a job of putting one on the theological spot -- one reason to love them all the more.
Last night my 5yo came down and started crying. "When I look down, I keep thinking of all the dead people buried under the ground."
We had a nice discussion about souls and heaven, and how people in heaven are happy, and he felt better. Then he got sad again... "But what about all the newborn babies.... it's sad that people up in heaven can't see the newborn babies...."
Well, what can you say to that? Do souls in heaven "see" us? Do they pay attention to us? I suppose they do, and said as much.
It was a nice time.
LOL!!! Reminds me of when we used to have fake fist-fights with our dad -- you swing to miss, but clap your hands and fall back convincingly.
One time we were doing it in the kitchen when my grandmother was there. Bad idea -- she picked up a frying pan and was just about to brain my dad with it. Only at the last second did she notice we were all laughing ... I still giggle about the cartoon version of what might have happened.
So many people out there are trading their children for material things like bigger houses, newer cars, boats and vacations -- they just don't get it. I feel sorry for them, I really do.
With the help of Brad's Gramma, she's now dubbed 'Miss Hormone'. LOL
We're hoping our daughter has lots of kiddos so we can spoil them all with lovies. Then again, she's only 11 and we'll have to wait a few years, huh? lol
Building family traditions, stacking up bricks of solid, strong memories cemented with love into a wall of morality and Christian culture does a lot to protect kids as they grow up...
Merry Christmas.
True, [Caleb1411], we do get all those things, but $160,000 is still a lot of money, so I intend to go home and tell my kids and get a bit more good hard labor out of them cleaning the house, mowing the yard, etc. I'll tell them that I'll deduct $160 an hour for each hour they do--more than they'll ever make doing anything else. After just 1000 hours, we'll be even!!
Amen to that! <><
I pray this Christmas is wonderful for you and your family.
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