Editorial
Front Page - Friday, July 24, 2009
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It’s not cheap to raise a child
Pettus L. Read
Having been raised in a family of five, I for one understand the cost of food, shelter, clothing and the other things we call necessities needed for raising children. In the most recent United States Department of Agriculture report, titled “Expenditures on Children by Families,” it removed all doubt about the fact that kids are not cheap. In fact, they are downright expensive, but most parents will tell you they are worth every expenditure.
The USDA report will tell you that if you had a child born recently you can expect to pay from $148,000 to $299,000, depending on income level, on that bundle of joy for their food, shelter and the other necessities to keep them dry and happy over the next 17 years.
That’s only around $10,000 a year on the average, but if you figure in inflation over those 17 years, that amount adds up for your total years of child-rearing.
The report has been available since 1960 and continues to be a valuable resource for state agencies and courts in determining child support guidelines and foster care payments. Of primary interest to states is the child-rearing cost estimate for middle-income, two-parent families, which in 2007 ranged between $10,930 to $12,030, per child in a two-child, married couple family in the middle-income group.
The report, compiled by USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, notes that family income affects child-rearing costs, with low-income families projected to spend $148,320; middle-income families $204,060; and upper-income families $298,680 (all in 2007 dollars) over a 17-year period. In 1960, a middle-income family could expect to spend $25,230 to raise a child through age 17.
Since 1960, as you would expect, expenses on children have changed considerably. Food decreased from 24 percent to 17.5 percent of total child-rearing costs, while childcare and education expenses increased from 1 percent to approximately 10 percent.
Most farmers could have told you that the food cost has decreased over the last 40-plus years. With improved efficiency and new production capabilities on today’s farms, America is enjoying the most reasonably priced food in the world, as well as the safest.
We Americans are getting a good deal when we purchase food. It takes just five weeks for the average American to earn enough disposable income to pay for his or her family’s food supply for the entire year. But, our farmers aren’t getting as good of a return on their hard work.
Farmers receive only 19 cents out of every food dollar spent in the United States. That is down from 31 cents just 30 years ago making today’s recession numbers look like a ride in the park.
While the farmer helps us raise our kids by providing us with affordable food, we need to remember that they also desire to make a good living just like the rest of the population. They have kids too, and their cost for raising them is just like the rest of us.
Housing cost was the single largest expenditure on a child in
2007, averaging 38.5 percent of the total costs over 17 years, compared with 32 percent in 1960.
In real dollars, the overall cost of raising a child has increased 13 percent from 1960 to 2007. Housing costs led the way in total cost increases with childcare and education coming in second. Health care increased by 3 percent, with clothing costs decreasing by 5 percent, as well as transportation costs going down from 16 percent to 15 percent.
Tennessee’s farmers are glad to be a part of helping to feed our children. We can thank a farmer for giving us more disposable income to spend on those large housing, childcare and education bills facing us over the next 17 years.
As farmers, their job is to provide today’s consumers with the highest quality food possible. Growing and raising wholesome, safe food is their top goal. They’ve done a good job and are going to continue to look for every opportunity to improve quality and safety.
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