What do Children Cost

With insurance nowadays, children can be a relatively cheap thing to acquire. However, I think we have all read those articles regarding the estimated cost of a child in the lifetime of a parent - I think the amount went possibly into the millions.

Well, we almost had an experience where one of our children at least added a few thousand dollars to that tab!

Aliece loves to be the one to get our mail during the day. She often gets it and puts it on the office door. One time I made the mistake of letting her keep a credit card advertisment letter that contained some sample credit cards. She loved them a little too much and now asks about every piece of mail to see if they have a credit card in them.

Well, the other morning I was getting out of the shower when Aliece came running by saying that she received an important letter. She was holding a rather large envelope that is typical of junk mail, and it was morning so I knew the mail hadn't just come, so I told her that was nice and shoed her away.

As she was leaving, I noticed that the envelope was a harder one and had FED-EX written on it. I started to rethink my counsel to her and I had her show me "her special letter". I guess a few days previous, FedEx had brought this important envelope that she had opened and played with. I examined the ruffled contents to find a check for over $3,600 from one of my internet customers!

Since the envelope was already opened by the preschooler and played with a couple days previous, I am a lucky man that it was still in one piece and in that envelope!! I was not expecting a check from the individual as they were going to pay with a credit card, so I would have never known that they sent it and that it was confiscated by my child.

As I finish writing this, I have to admit, I am still looking for some year-end tax statements that should have arrived in January...