Posted on 04/07/2008 1:01:59 PM PDT by Alouette
My husband and I are getting ready to do what many couples in these brink-of-recessionary times would consider unthinkable. No, we're not buying a Martha's Vineyard retreat or planning a month in St. Bart's or eco-decorating our house.
We're planning to have a third child.
What shocks people, when we tell them, isn't the thought of hauling three kids onto a place for a vacation, or even the idea of coming home every night to a houseful of runny noses and homework assignments. What gets them is the sheer financial audacity. Raising kids today costs a fortune. Last month, the Department of Agriculture estimated that each American child costs an average of $204,060 to house, clothe, educate and entertain until the age of 18.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
No wonder you’re tired of laundry. I had 4 and the first 2 were twins. I don’t remember much of the first two years. ;)
I do Middle Eastern cooking, and once I went into a Pakistani grocery store for spices, leading five children and pregnant with the sixth. The clerk was so excited to see all the children that she stuffed them with spiced roasted chickpea nibbles and sold me a shalwar-khameez outfit for half price. "Fit all pregnant lady very good. You look pretty!"
The real test is the effort to raise them properly. I have developed an equation for this:
e=effort
d=difficulty
x=# of children
e=d^x
Notice that the number of children is in the exponent. The only problem with this equation is that if x > the number of hands you have then d is no longer a constant. To calculate the total d you have to differentiate the equation and multiply the result by d. That give us:
e=(xd^(x-1))d^x
So just figure that out and you will know if you can handle the effort required for the number of kids you plan to have.
When they get a bit older (maybe 7, 8 years old?), the kids, too, have serviceable arms and laps for the younger ones. It’s a mistake to think kids are just love-needers. They are also love-givers. More kids, more love to go around.
I had two classmates who were the youngest of sixteen siblings. Boy, did their mothers ever look tired.
Thank you for posting that. I was seeing red and trying to think of how to respond without getting banned...
No revelation here. Nothing new. It has always been expensive and hard work. Ask your parents.
Bureaucrat= Room temperature IQ.
“Kids aren’t that expensive until they reach elementary school age, really.”
unless they are in daycare
“If people waited until they could afford to have kids....there would be none”
Amen. We have 4, and our youngest is 20. We scrimped and scraped and put the first 3 through private schools, and home-schooled the youngest. We made it but it meant sacrifices. No trips to Disneyworld, no designer sneakers, old cars and TVs. But I wouldn’t give any of them back, and they’ve given me 6 wonderful grandchildren so far.
Would have had a couple more, but medical reasons kept us down to 4.
They just show up.
My Grandma Helen had 88 grandchildren and great-grandchildren when she died at age 90. I'm not sure how she was able to remember all of our names. :)
We’re enjoying our third at the moment. Based upon today, he’s the only one I’m enjoying right now. Must be nap time for the three year old. I have to wonder about the cost of raising a child. Have they never heard of handmedowns? My first two girls wore the same clothing and if I was lucky, the same shoes. If you are factoring housing costs and car costs (we now max out our cars) then possibly. Maybe the increased insurance premiums......but I got to wonder where they get that number from.
And who buys their kids 70 new toys a year?
“I have 9 kids, that makes me a super showoff.”
Bless you. And is the 9th child your middle child?
;o)
Well, you’re about due to get pregnant again.
Gotcha beat - got 5 and 15
Two in the military helping to insure the safety of the pro-abortionists others, along with real Americans.
Too bad we can't segregate the anti-troop, anti-America people out and let them fend for themselves...
I learned that one as a "middle child" ... I can remember my big sister taking care of me ... then ... I got to watch over the little brother ... It all seemed to work out.
I'm astonished, today, to hear parents complain about having to do all the housework ... going into excruciating detail ... then find out that their perfectly able-bodied and able-minded >8yo kids do exactly NO chores. Zip. Nada.
D'OH!!!!!!
;o)
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