miOaklandCounty.com

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 is don’t have children
if you want to be “rich.” Actually, it is just the opposite. 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 jelly or chocolate.
A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
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, & Curious
George &
Dr. Seuss . . .
Watching Saturday morning cartoons,
Going to Disney movies,
Wishing on stars, and

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator
magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand
prints set
in clay or 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 a 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 and great 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 just under 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.

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Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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