The price of parenting

A number 271,499...

Any guesses?

Number of miles to the sun? The number of sperm in an ejaculation? Number of times you ask your child to put their shoes on? Miles travelled taking your child to practices and matches over the course of their life time? Children born this year?


No, it is the cost, in UK pounds, of raising a child. Just one. For Americans and Europeans we're talking over 300,000 of your currency.

That is a lot of money...

For just one child...

And we have three!

That makes it... more than we will earn in the next 20 years or so... without the cost of anything else factored in! No house, no car, no mama knickers!

Can it be true?

Well not the way we do it with second hand everything, homemade that, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, sharing kiddie meals between three when we go out and other such tight fisted eco shenanigans... But for some people... the type who buy solid gold bottle warmers... I'm hoping, otherwise we're screwed! I hope it has factored in a few years worth of Ivy League college fees at that price!

But it's not just cash that it costs us. No siree.

Another fact, from Oliver Burkeman, Guardian columnist and author of the great critique of self help: Help!
That parenting, despite received wisdom, doesn't make us happier. Far from it. Childless couples are distinctly happier. Parents think they are happy, according to this research... but they're actually not! Talk about the self deception of biology!

But it's worth it... right?

Priceless!