I agree the family is taking more of a hit when the kids are young. However, this should amortize away as child care costs drop radically once the child is in

I agree the family is taking more of a hit when the kids are young. However, this should amortize away as child care costs drop radically once the child is in school. I checked http://www.babycenter.com/cost-of-raising-child-calculator http://www.babycenter.com/cost-of-raising-child-calculator and they shoe cost of raising a child to be $1,525/month for 18 years for the highest income.