What do you get for $160,140?

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 $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, 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 grown up.

You get to finger-paint, carvepumpkins, 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 refigerator magnets

and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,

hand prints set in clay for Mothers 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 the frisbee off the garage roof,

taking the trainingwheels 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 of history to witness the first steps,

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 sexualitythat no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, your rightup there under God.

You have 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.

Enjoy your kids and grandkids!

-Author Unknown-