How Much Do They Cost?

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:4-5 ESV).

Well, today is my middle son, David’s! David will be thirty-three. It hardly seems possible that it has been that long! For those of you who know me personally, you also know that each of the boys’ birthdays give me an excuse to say something about the wonder of family. Today is no exception!

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 and came up with $160,140! That doesn't even touch college tuition. Whether that number is too high or too low in your experience, it does sound a little scary to those without children! Let me be very quick to say that $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 $24.44 a Day! Just over a dollar an hour! The real key is (and here comes the salesman in me) in the value you receive. In sales, we are taught to always talk about features, benefits, and impacts of the purchase, not the price. So, what do you get for your $160,140.00. Here’s a list I saw recently in a short article sent to me by a friend:

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 wonders over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies. A hand to hold usually covered with jam. 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. 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 magnet 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. You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a splinter, filling the 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. 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 with 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.

I certainly have received that and much, much more from my children! They have truly been arrows in my quiver. They have made me so wonderfully glad! Though we have faced “challenging” times with them all, I am so blessed by each of them! Aren’t you? Perhaps its time to tell them so today! Make an extra effort to affirm and love them today.