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In reply to the discussion: (Suze Orman)Apparently Poor & Middle Class People Shouldn't Have Babies [View all]boppers
(16,588 posts)Broken link-through from the article (to some RW site) argument:
http://www.smockityfrocks.com/2011/12/an-open-letter-to-suze-orman.html
Those parents estimate rearing a child only costs $70 a month.
Guess who isn't going to college, going on a european senior trip, driving a car, going on dates, participating in sports or arts programs, going to summer camp, wearing clean clothes, having birthday parties, eating healthy food, getting a pet, or is "allowed" to have accidents, or go to pre-school, to ever get sick, or have a complicated pregnancy or birth?
The child of parents who don't realize how expensive child rearing is in the long run, and didn't budget for it. Parents who don't think in terms of 20-25 years of child-rearing are basically setting themselves up to be accused of child abuse.
In short, if you cannot afford to pay for the kind of childhood you think you deserved (as compared to the one you suffered through), you aren't wealthy enough yet to stop the cycle.