IF you have kids you will understand this, if you dont then you will understand a little of what it is like to have them! 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.

for160,140, 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,

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 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!!!!!!!

(Yea, it was worth it all and then some!!)  Now - you go and love your

children & grandchildren and enjoy them while you can!!!!!!!