The Price of Kids

[Guest guest]

---------------------- Forwarded by

-Holmes/Louisville/Humana on 07/14/2000 03:51 PM

---------------------------

" Dawn Pontious " on 07/13/2000 11:18:41 AM

To: " Carla Insley " , " ' Winters' "

, " 'Jim & Carol' " , " Todd

Green " ,

-Holmes/Louisville/Humana

cc:

Subject: The Price of Kids

> The Price of Kids

> 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 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 hearing

> the

> baby wail and knowing all that matters is it's healthy.

>

> * Counting all 10 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 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's Day. 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.

>

> ______________________________