The cost of raising a child

http://www.babycenter.com/cost-of-raising-child-calculator

We were watching TV last night and on one of the comedies we were watching they made a comment about how the average cost to raise a child was $342,000. Not sure if they are including college but whatever. That is an extreme amount of money.

So I got to thinking and looked up the average cost to raise a child and found the calculator on babycenter's website. Going by that calculator, the average cost to raise my daughter is roughly $208,000. That is the total amount and that is NOT including college. Over two hundred thousand dollars. Holy crap. Do you know how much child support I recieve a week? $40. Yes a whopping $40.

Let's break it down...

Average total cost (18 Years)= $208,000.
Average yearly cost= $11,555
Average monthly cost= $960
Average weekly cost= $220
Average cost that SHOULD be split between parents would then be the $220 so divided by 2 = $120

And I get $340 a week?

The way I look at it... Capt. DB really owes me roughly $37,000 in back child support. For the last 9 years. That would be the amount if he actually had paid $40 a week for 9 years. He really has only paid that $40 for maybe 4 years (rounding WAY up in his favor) and then a few payments other than that.

Kids are expensive. My daughter sees who writes the checks though, I don't need to tell her and her father can say "Your Mom takes all my money" all he wants... when she is an adult she will KNOW who supported her... so I guess that makes it worth it.