Nah its like 18k USD or so if you’re uninsured. 3k or so if you are. Daycare and supplies are brutal though, probably 20k on average annually - higher if you live in an expensive state. Childcare specific costs get cheaper as they grow and eventually they hit public school. Past that you still have to cloth, feed, transport and lodge them - so just imagine what you spend on yourself and thats about what you spend on each child.
And then suddenly your kid has special needs that require constant supervision - it’ll never be safe to leave them alone. For the rest of your life, you’re now a caregiver, and you’ll have to find someone to take over when you die. And find some way to afford all that.
And what if you birthed alone, or your fellow parent bails out or dies? Who’ll take care of that child and who’ll earn money? The US is deliberately built to make this devastating for anyone who’s not already wealthy.
I have a special-needs pet who can’t be left alone for more than a few hours. I have no desire to amplify that into a full-lifetime task.
Yeah I mean, if you are destitute in your own life don’t have kids, terrible financial decision. But if you are actually making/saving money, it’s not as horrible as people claim. Daycare in early life is the biggest expense until college. Also you do get some tax breaks in the US with kids so that offsets it a bit.
The biggest risk beyond daycare is if your kids have major issues, cause that can cost a lot of extra time, money, and your sanity. But that’s a roll of the dice.
Nah its like 18k USD or so if you’re uninsured. 3k or so if you are. Daycare and supplies are brutal though, probably 20k on average annually - higher if you live in an expensive state. Childcare specific costs get cheaper as they grow and eventually they hit public school. Past that you still have to cloth, feed, transport and lodge them - so just imagine what you spend on yourself and thats about what you spend on each child.
And then suddenly your kid has special needs that require constant supervision - it’ll never be safe to leave them alone. For the rest of your life, you’re now a caregiver, and you’ll have to find someone to take over when you die. And find some way to afford all that.
And what if you birthed alone, or your fellow parent bails out or dies? Who’ll take care of that child and who’ll earn money? The US is deliberately built to make this devastating for anyone who’s not already wealthy.
I have a special-needs pet who can’t be left alone for more than a few hours. I have no desire to amplify that into a full-lifetime task.
Yeah I mean, if you are destitute in your own life don’t have kids, terrible financial decision. But if you are actually making/saving money, it’s not as horrible as people claim. Daycare in early life is the biggest expense until college. Also you do get some tax breaks in the US with kids so that offsets it a bit.
The biggest risk beyond daycare is if your kids have major issues, cause that can cost a lot of extra time, money, and your sanity. But that’s a roll of the dice.