Mariposa De La Luna
April 4th, 2001, 04:15 PM
>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. For those
>with
>
>kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about all the money you could
>have
>
>banked, if not for your children. 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, or $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a
>week, or $24.44 a day, or 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?
>
>1. Naming rights. First, middle, and last.
>2. Glimpses of God every day.
>3. Giggles under the covers every night.
>4. More love than your heart can hold.
>5. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
>6. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
>7. A hand to hold usually covered with jam.
>8. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles and
>skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
>9. 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 pumpkins,
>play hide-and-seek, and catch lightning bugs. 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 hand
>made menorahs from Sunday school, 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 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 the God/dess. 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.
(altered to reflect pagans)
>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. For those
>with
>
>kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about all the money you could
>have
>
>banked, if not for your children. 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, or $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a
>week, or $24.44 a day, or 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?
>
>1. Naming rights. First, middle, and last.
>2. Glimpses of God every day.
>3. Giggles under the covers every night.
>4. More love than your heart can hold.
>5. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
>6. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
>7. A hand to hold usually covered with jam.
>8. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles and
>skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
>9. 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 pumpkins,
>play hide-and-seek, and catch lightning bugs. 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 hand
>made menorahs from Sunday school, 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 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 the God/dess. 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.
(altered to reflect pagans)