"The Cost of Raising A Child"

If you counted the real cost of raising a child, you would never have the courage to attempt it. Today, for a middle-income family to raise a child born in 2015 through age 17, count on $233,610. That is nearly $14,000 per year. That does not include summer camp, tennis lessons, or tutoring. Housing makes up a third of the cost. What do you think child care costs? Try an average of $37,500 per child.

I am only writing about financial costs. The question is, what does it really cost to raise a child? Try time, patience, discipline, creativity, trust, direction, humor, self-esteem, faith, love, and much more.

The home is where spiritual reproduction takes place. That is where a child’s worth is nurtured. That is where self-esteem is given a platform. That is where relationships of perpetual value are built.  Home is where real economic values are determined.  Home is where NO can be an answer expressed out of deep love.

As a teenager, I really enjoyed going to the stock car races at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. Family friends were involved in that sport. Often in the middle of the races, they would entertain the fans with a Demolition Derby. I got a kick out of the whole thing.  One evening, I was about the leave the house and go to the races.I tried to encourage my father to join us. I assured him that he would be entertained. His dismissed me with a line I have never forgotten. He said, “I am a man on construction, not destruction.”

It was hard to enjoy the Demoltion Derby after that. It has made me ask myself many times, in front of my children and grandchildren, will they know me as a man of construction.

“Except the Lord builds the house, they build it in vain.”  Psalm 127:1

Blessings!