I am watching “Teen Mom” (it’s a show on MTV about Teen Moms, clever title, I know – and don’t judge, earlier I was watching a singing orange cyclops cucumber thing with Adam – I’m allowed to rot my brain with this stuff while he’s napping).

On the show this teen dad was lamenting about the fact that he has to pay child support and made the comment that if he has to keep paying child support until his son is 18 that will end up being like $80,000.  He was appalled (as were his childless friends), because $80,000 is a lot of money when you’re just out of high school and unemployed (heck, it’s a lot of money period – I’m not trying to downplay that at all). But let’s break that $80,000 down a little shall we?

That’s the equivalent of roughly:

$4,444 per year

or

$370 per month

or

$85 per week

And based on what I know about caring for my son (who appears to be about the same age as the child he is supporting), I’ve estimated some weekly costs.

Diapers: $20

Wipes: $3

Formula: $12

Baby Food: $15

Right there that’s $50, just for the basics. It doesn’t touch on doctor’s appointments, medicine, clothes, or toys. And let’s not forget about childcare (this particular teen mom is working 30 hours a week and going to college). Boy this kid and his $85 a week really has it rough.

There are websites out there that will calculate the estimated costs to raise a child. I filled it out with our info and Adam in mind and this is what I learned:

Depressing isn’t it? Here’s how they broke it down (you’ll notice I did not include college or anything over the age of 18 because the little dude is going to get a scholarship (academic or athletic – I’m not picky) and win the lottery):

I’m thinking that teen dad needs a J-O-B.

Today’s trip to the YMCA did not go nearly as well as yesterday’s. I had been on the elliptical machine for all of 10 minutes when the nice girl (Miss Amanda) that was working in the children’s room came to get me. She said Adam had been crying since I left and she wasn’t able to calm him down (and neither was her supervisor or the well meaning mom of three that ended up with a shoulder covered in baby snot for her efforts).

So I went down and the poor kid was a wreck. I hung out with him in the children’s room for about half an hour. We played with the toys and I even got him to interact with Miss Amanda a little, but any time I would stand up or the door would open (even if I was sitting right next to him) he would start crying again. So we’ll try again tomorrow. The lady working tomorrow is the same one that was there yesterday, so maybe that will help.

Yes, I know the picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. I don’t have a picture of him screaming a the Y though, so this is what you get – Adam showing off how he can climb in to his shopping cart (he was dancing and I took the photo with my phone, which is why his arms are blurry).