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| From: Honda1252@aol.com | Posted: Aug-23-2000 10:22 pm | Msg: 2032 |
| Subject: [Sistahtalk] The Price of a Child | ||
| Thought you might like this.... Yvonne > >The Price of a Child > > > >The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth > >to age eighteen and came up with $160,140 for a middle-income family. Talk > >about sticker shock. That doesn't even touch college tuition. For those > >with kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about all the things we > >could have bought, all the places we could have traveled, all the money > >we could have banked if not for (insert 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 want to be rich. It's just > >the opposite. > > > > There's no way to put a price tag on: > > > > *Feeling a new life move for the first time and seeing the > > bump of a knee rippling across your skin. > > * Having someone cry, "It's a boy!" or shout, "It's a girl!" > > then hear the baby wail and knowing all that matters is it's healthy. > > * Counting all ten fingers and toes for the first time. > > * Feeling the warmth of fat cheeks against your breast. > > * Cupping an entire head in the palm of your hand. > > * Making out da or ma ma from all the cooing and gurgling. > > > > > > 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 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, handprints set in clay for Mother's Day and cards with > >backward letters for Father'sDay. > > > >For $160,140, there's 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 sliver, 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, 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 no college > >can match. In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with God. You > >have the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away 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. > > > >~Unknown | ||