Guest Author - Susan Thompson

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from Birth to 18 and came up with $184,230 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $184,230 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $10,235.00 a year, $852.92 a month, or $213.23 a week. That's a mere $30.46 a day, per hour that’s $1.27. Of course, many families do it for much less and then there are those who can double that figure because they earn more.

Although those figures may seem staggering, here are just a few of the things you get for your money. You get the miracle of first smiles and laughter. You get to witness all the firsts whether they are good or bad, first tooth, first illness, first day of school, first sleep over, first date, first love, and of course their first broken heart.

You get to be their first teacher, teaching them how to talk, walk, blow out birthday candles, to ride a bike without training wheels, then you get to teach them how to drive. You also get to teach them your values and right from wrong.

When you have children you get to play the role of hero for making the boogie man disappear by turning on the magic night light. You get to be a magician who can heal a scraped knee with a bandage and a kiss and one who can build the perfect tent in the family room when it has been raining for days and they are bored from being inside. When they have a bad day, you get to reassure them that tomorrow will be better, and most of the time you will be right.

As a parent you get to be the recipient of hand made gifts for mother’s or father’s day and the most amazing breakfast in bed that consists of mostly cold things because they are not allowed to cook. You will eat it anyway and it will be the best meal ever because it was made with love.

You will have the privilege of purchasing prom attire and then cry when they leave because where will the time have gone? You will also have the privilege of grounding them for being late for curfew because they lost track of time and you thought they were in an accident.

If you play your cards right and are very lucky, you get a lifetime of unconditional love with hugs and kisses included. Your children will grow up to be happy, successful adults who will have children of their own and with any luck your wish will come true and one of their children will be just like them!