Numba 1

[Loud Fanfare with herald trumpets]



Lad-ees a-a-and gentlemen! And children! Children of all ages!

[Drum roll, please.] The Number 1 item from my 2005 Posts!

Number 1 was a big surprise. It's not original with me, but it touched a lot of heartstrings. I'm glad I put it up there. Apparently, a lot of readers were, too. Enjoy it again. Pass it around. Or send your friends over here to read it. Then hug a child today. Real good.

A Bargain at Twice the Price (Sept 4)

Our government—bless it’s heart—recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to age 18. Only $160,140 for a middle income family! Woo-hoo! Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition!

For those with kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about “…all the money we could have banked if not for [insert your child's name here].” For others, that number might confirm their decision to remain childless.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. Thats only $8,896.66 year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. A mere $24.44 a day! Just a dollar an hour. What a bargain! Still, there are those who think the best financial advice is “Don't have children if you want to get rich."

Gong ~ong ~ong! Wrong answer.

What do your get for your $160,140?

• Naming rights—first, middle, and last.
• Glimpses of God every day.
• Whispers from angels.
• Giggles under the covers every night.
• More love than your heart can hold.
• Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
• Endless wonder over rocks, ants, worms, clouds, flowers and warm cookies.
• A hand to hold, usually covered with jam.
• A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, playing catch 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.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. 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 movies and wishing on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets 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.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee from the garage roof, for taking the training wheels off the bike, for 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 a treat after the game.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with God. You have all the power to kiss a boo-boo and make it feel all better. You can scare away the monsters from under the bed. You instinctively know how to patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, go tromping through the wilderness—and love them without limits.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

You get a front row seat to history to watch the first step, first word, first day of school. "Mom, look! My first fish!" Her first bra, the first date, first time behind the wheel, the first grandchild—and then you get to hear about it all over again. "Guess what, Pee-paw. I went swimming in the deep end!"

You become immortal. A branch is added to your family tree; and if you're lucky, many more branches quickly follow.

Here’s the best part: Because of you, one day they, too, will love without counting the cost.


[Read this as fast as you can; like they do on radio commercials.] A reminder that results were based upon readers' responses, comments and e-mail received back here at Hipwriting World Headquarters. Thanks to everyone who watched this countdown and for your comments that accompanied the posts…er, re-posts. I’m flattered and humble. This has been fun.