There is a family in our church who have six kids with one on the way. I must ask them some time how large a place. I have four, but my last two were twins. I do recall a remark about my wife and I having "all those kids." Does put one in a special caategory. As to these ridiculous estimates of costs per child. The fellow with twelve kids is a businessman who makes something more than $100,000 grand a year. His family doesn't look deprived. Haven't they ever heard of economy of scale?
You are right: kids are not that expensive. They eat very little (when they are young) and are perfectly happy with cheap food. They outgrow clothes before they wear them out, as a result there are always people giving away clothes. We have purchased very little clothing for our kids.
The two big ticket items are disposable diapers and college funds, and neither one is strictly a necessity. In addition, once they reach four or five they can start performing simple chores and tasks, and by the time they are teenagers they are capable of doing all but the most complex repairs and are a great help at those.
"Expensive" kids get lessons, sports leagues, TVs, game consoles, cell phones, etc. They never lift a finger to help and grow up with a psychotic sense of entitlement.
I paid my own way through college and never got piano lessons. Do I wish I had those things? Sure, but I hardly wish I hadn't been born for want of them.