Costs & Benefits

There is a substantial financial cost to parenthood. Diapers, food, toys, clothes, books, videos, a crib, a changing table, and many other things have a clear dollar value (not that I’m keeping track to bill her when she’s 18 or anything – we’ll just move in with her when we’re too old to take care of ourselves). Then there are the time and energy costs: the actual pregnancy would cost too much to put a monetary value on – at least that’s the general message I got from Kira; the birth itself and the pain recovering from the c-section are worth a pretty penny; the sleep deficits are huge; the manual labor of feeding, changing, bathing, and cleaning up after her could employ a small team. Then there’s the opportunity cost of one of us always being home with her. That’s a lot to consider.

Of course, then there’s the opportunity cost of not having her. Think of the countless hours of priceless entertainment we’d miss:

She thought her green shorts would fit on her head. She was right!

Then she thought her blue shorts would fit over her pants. She was right!

And here she is working out to an exercise video:

Yeah. I guess, all things considered, we’re getting a great deal!

#OnParenthood