The Price of Children

Dear Daughter

Gramma sent me this email and I hadn't seen it before but it made me tear up 
(of course a lot of things make me tear up when it comes to you) and it's worth the read!

 The Price of Children

 The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and 
came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! 
That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. 
It translates into:
$8,896.66 a year,
$741.38 a month,
$171.08 a week.
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 $160,140.00?

• 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 and flying kites.
• Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said 
• or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to: 

• finger-paint,
• carve pumpkins,
• play hide-and-seek,
• catch lightning bugs,
• never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

• keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
• watch Saturday morning cartoons,
• go to Disney movies, and
• wish on stars.
• You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and
• collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,
• hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and
• cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, 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 in 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 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 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. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren!!!!!!! 
It's the best investment you'll ever make!!!!!!!!!

I read this and I cried and smiled all at the same time. I want you to know 
something Sweetheart; Nothing I'll ever accomplish in life will be more important or
 more significant then being your Mama.
 You'll feel the same way when you have kids...........after you turn 30 and 
Daddy lets you start dating.

I love you Little Girl

Always and Forever 

Mama

written: 03/15/2011