Train up a child…

The Cost of Raising a Child

One estimate of the cost to raise a child from birth to age 18 is $160,140.00. This breaks down to $8,889.67 a year, $740.81a month, $170.96 a week, and $24.42 each day. It is a little over a dollar for each hour. Sounds like a lot!
One might say, “Wow, we shouldn’t have children if we want to be rich! Just think of all the money we would have if we didn’t have children!”
Others might say, “My wealth is in my children!”
We get many things from our children that money can’t buy, so the money spent on them is possibly the very best investment we can make.
What do we get from our children?
Little wiggly squirming bodies climbing into bed with us in the mornings. (Often with wet, stinky diapers!)
Butterfly kisses
Innocent comments and constant curiosity (They make us feel so smart when we can explain things to them!)
A hand to hold (It may be sticky!)
Someone to laugh with
Someone to read to over and over and over (Often the same book)
A refrigerator covered with work of the children with backward letters and coloring outside the lines
Handmade Christmas ornaments to cherish year after year
Kiss the hurt away
Cut a wad of gum out of hair
Remove a splinter
Driving to activities
Fix lots of meals knowing that the food we choose is making them big and strong!’
Watch the first step, see the first haircut, hear the first word, see the first date, shudder at the thought of the first driver’s license!
An education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, that no one can match.
A grown child calling home for advice or a recipe
A place in the heart of each child that no one can ever take away.
Possible grandchildren and great-grandchildren
The power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them – so that one day they will love their children and others without counting the cost.
What a deal for the money!