Sock Food

This past week I had to prepare and run my son's Cub Scouts activity about MyPyramid.If you don't know, this is the new food pyramid, devised in 2005 by the US Department of Agriculture.

As I was putting together the activity, I ran across an interesting link that allowed me to calculate the cost of kids. They call it The Cost of Raising a Child Calculator.So, I plugged in my information to see what crazy numbers it might come up with.

I was stunned to see that the results were not that far off (for me). I think I walked through the five stages of grief because I started with outright denial and ended with acceptance. Here are the calculated results for my two kids, ages 6 and 4.

Besides the outright depression of seeing these kinds of numbers, I don't think they are too far off. The biggest difference for us is the cost of child care and education. The cost of my four year old's day care is definitely not $86 per week ($4,510 per year). The USDA must be talking with the IRS because they seem to believe it only costs about $6000 total per year for daycare. That doesn't even cover the cost of one kid!

We are expecting our third child this year. That decision was as much a financial one as it was a decision of simply wanting to have another child. It is somewhat sad that wanting to have another kid came down to finances. But when you look at the costs of having a kid, it really has to be. The whole idea of "well, we'll just make it work" doesn't always yield positive results. I'd prefer not to have the whole family sink into the poor house because the third kid costs too much.

Every family is different, though. Both my wife and me work. So, the cost of a child is drastically increased by the need for daycare. If you have one parent stay at home or a relative to watch the kids for free then the cost of daycare is not a factor. The choice to send your kids to public school or private school is also a factor.

Regardless of your particular situation, there are costs. New babies require diapers (lots of them), wipes, butt cream, formula, clothes, doctors appointments, and the list goes on and on. Older kids require more expensive clothes, school expenses (even in public schools), fees for extra-curricular activities, food, gas, car seats, doctors, etc.

Kids are incredible little people but they are expensive. If you decide to have another child, be sure to plan properly. The added expenses, if not planned for, can quickly increase family stress levels as mom and dad try to compensate. This affects not only the parents but the kids as well. And as a dad who interacts with other people's kids on a regular basis, I appreciate your kids not being sad, angry, depressed, or stressed out when I'm with them (besides the normal kid ups and downs).

Happy, stress-free moms and dads lead to happy families that then lead to happy little boys and girls.