Just The Facts

8/1/2018

Wow, we're nearly through with summer. Soon, if not already, parents are contemplating and buying school clothes (a chore I dreaded every year) and school supplies.  

Things and prices have changed a great deal since the boys were in school.  Of course, I absolutely had to see what the cost of new clothes are now, and I was shocked.  Parents spend 26.5 BILLION dollars getting their kids ready from K-12. That breaks down to $669.28 per child.  Wow, that's a lot of money.  Since we only had boys, I know we paid substantially less than parents with girls. Boys are routinely happy with jeans, and a few shirts (shirts really only a necessity by parents). And, when the boys were in school, there were dress standards - like no shorts, ripped jeans (but that actually wasn't a thing back then), spaghetti strap tops, stuff like that.

According to statistics it costs approximately $233,610 to raise a child from birth to age 18.  And, of course, that's only for ONE child.  School supplies are cheaper, around $100 or so.  When Jeff and I, and perhaps you as well, were in school, our parents didn't have to shell out as much for supplies.  Why? Because back in the day, schools actually supplied some supplies.  Does anybody remember having white paste put on construction paper for art projects.  I didn't personally try it, but I've been told that the past didn't taste too bad!

Or, Elmer's glue that came in a bottle with a rubber end. I actually believe that going through school, back in the OLDEN days, was less stressful, on parents and children.  I did spend my high school years in a small school, in a small town, but I know they didn't offer any AP classes.  Nor, did they have classes from children with learning disabilities.

Today, children can and are grouped into certain categories.  Andrew, for instance could have gone to a school, for advanced learning children. He declined. He preferred being in the high school for our neighborhood, and he obviously did very well.  We did send Scott to a private school for children with learning disabilities. It was a good school and he learned a lot.  But, cost for private schools can be a prohibitive problem. When it was time for high school, the county, who touted their ability to teach special needs children, didn't live up to their hype.  He learned nothing. When he had a reading assignment, I read the books out loud to him. Teachers knowing this admonished me repeatedly, but I couldn't have cared less about their opinions.  And, back to a private school, out of state, he went. The costs for this school today are $54,750 for the education part and $15,310 for room and board. That's a lot of money, but most parents, including ourselves, deemed education in this special school was worth every dime (dollar actually) we spent.

And, now to a different subject regarding money. I've been watching the reality show about becoming a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. Once they make the team, the girls earn a measly $150 per game and no money for rehearsals. Obviously, these girls have to have a "real" job in order to survive.

So, there you have it. Just stating the facts.

P