Are Kids Cheap?
Find out just how much it really costs to raise 7 children per year -- you might be surprised.
Jesse and I have found that having children creates more income. It's been phenominal to watch God's provision in our lives since Kathrynne's birth. As the monetary needs have increased, our income has increased. We are constantly in amazement of the provisions of the Lord.
So, I'm curious: How much does it cost for you to raise your children? Anyone else besides Kim C. want to do the math?
Jesse and I have found that having children creates more income. It's been phenominal to watch God's provision in our lives since Kathrynne's birth. As the monetary needs have increased, our income has increased. We are constantly in amazement of the provisions of the Lord.
So, I'm curious: How much does it cost for you to raise your children? Anyone else besides Kim C. want to do the math?
posted by Crystal Paine at 12:45 PM
11 Comments:
I think the better question here is "How much does it cost us NOT to have children?" If we were to have 43 million more people in the USA (those taken from abortion) our social security problem would not really be a problem at all. It would personally cost me my 100+ laughs/smiles per day, my glimpses of God that can only be seen thru a child, the patient/compassionate heart it takes to minister to a sick little one, the respect of my husband for being able to keep all this together, etc. Obviously there are many more economic reasons, too. One only needs to look at France where they are actually paying people to have children. Their economy/country is literally dying due to the 1.8 children mentality.
Oh, I completely agree that there are many benefits, financial and otherwise, to having children! We would be entirely different people today w/o our children; we know and believe that every aspect of life is directly in the hands of God, and in His kind providence, I'm sure the sense of responsibility that accompanies parenthood has positively impacted hubby's career, as well my own daily life, spending habits, etc.
I think children are a blessing: not the mixed sort, that must be weighed and considered, but a gift that we accept joyfully and unquestioningly.
They are certainly not the white elephants that much of modern society likes to portray!
I only have a 7 month old so far, so it is probably too early for me to tell yet. However, I buy almost all of my son's clothes at thrift stores b/c babies grow out of their things so quickly that almost everything I buy there is "like new".
Overall, I really don't think our son has cost us as much as we originally thought he would. (Not that it matters...we would adjust to whatever the cost! He's SO worth it.)
I think the better question here is "How much does it cost us NOT to have children?"
Now that kind of hurts me, as my husband and I physically cannot have children. We have decided not to do IVF or anything like that, as if God wants us to have children, He will give them to us some way or another. I know you did not mean to be hurtful, but people at my church often say things like that, and go off on married couples without children, without thinking that maybe they cannot have them. And if they do find out we can't, automatically go into the IVF/adoption talk. Will I never learn respect or compassion, because I can't have children? Will I never see any glimpse of God because I can't have children?
{quote=mandi}One only needs to look at France where they are actually paying people to have children. Their economy/country is literally dying due to the 1.8 children mentality. {/quote}
This isn't the only country that's doing this. Australia is paying it's people to have children as well. The government will happily give any woman who has a child $3,000 PER CHILD regardless of income/economic status or age and this amount is set to increase over the next 2-3 years. It's not specifically stated to increase our population so much as to deter abortions but it's still there....
My Mom always said that if we waited to have kids until we could afford it, we wouldn't ever have them. Money may always be a concern, but God has always provided in some way for my hubby and I. I wouldn't trade my kids and their precious little antics for anything. My children give me something nothing else could and I thank God for blessing me with them and I pray he will bless me with more.
Hi Anonymous!
I'm in the same position as you are, so I can understand your feelings. I'm 37 and will probably never be able to have children. But rest assured, by the grace of God you CAN have a full and meaningful life.....I do! (o:
Anonymous,
I think society's failure to value children as the blessings they really are leads observers to assume that those w/o children remain that way on purpose.
Sadly, it's far more common to be childless by choice than by reason of infertility.
I've never really written down what it costs us. I do know, however, that we did fine when we had one child and a 12K income that first year. And now we have 2 children and double the income, which still makes us "poor" but we are still doing just fine, and have never yet had to resort to debt in order to get by. Praise God!
If we had no children, we'd only find junk to spend the money on. Might as well use our resources on things which have eternal value.
Anonymous--surely you understand that we are talking about people who *choose* not to have children, whether thier reasons are "We can't afford them" or something else? Your faith and trust in God is admirable and wonderful! Nobody is disrespecting you by saying that children are valuable! I respect you that much more because you know the value of children and are having to give that desire up to God.
Anonymous - I am so sorry that you have had those sort of experiences with people from your church....however I am not one of those people. I still stand by my post as the Bible clearly states that children are a blessing. It is certainly heartbreaking for couples who are trying to conceive and can't, but I don't control these things and don't feel it is fair that you twisted my statement. I would hope that it was quite obvious I was not speaking about infertile couples. If you were to re-read my statement I said "it would PERSONALLY....". I was referring to my own experiences. I did not say that those without kids were incapable of being compassionate or getting glimpses of God. I could easily tell you about the plenty of times I have heard unkind comments at church b/c I have 4 kids. One example is, "What are you 2? Rabbits??!". Sometimes us women can be overly sensitive and offended when no offense has occured (as has been shown recently with comments that Crystal has received). The Bible tells us to be joyful in all circumstances and that love "thinks the best" (as taken from the Message version). I think this is advice we would all be wise to remember.
I know you can raise children in a much cheaper way by teaching them how to work. My parents did not have the money to buy us everything we wanted, but in my opinion, they taught us a whole lot more when they taught us how to work to get what we wanted. I know sometimes people think that we are depriving our children of things when we do not have new furniture or our own rooms, but I think it is possible to have a happy, healthy childhood in spite of that. Instead of having to afford the latest toy, we are still satsified with the simple toys of life and playing games that do not cost anything. Yes, you can spend alot per child, but I do not think it produces better children to have brand new clothes and all the most expensive lessons. We were very poor, yet we had the opportunity to take music lessons by trading for our lessons. We read books from the library and played running games instead of having cable TV and going to a athletic club. When you have more children it is cheaper to not work than work and pay daycare costs. My dad and mom had several home businesses we helped to run and learned that when you don't have money, you work for it.
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