From Dumb Ox Academy, a very funny post:
Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room.
Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room.
Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheeses, you may eat, but not in the living room.
Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room.
Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein.
Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink. But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room. . . .
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
. . . And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear that you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert. . . .
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. . . Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you to faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose, nor throw yourself from the table onto the floor. For even I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat it myself, yet do not die. . . .
And much, much more….
via Karen Edmisten who was kind enough to link to me and say kind things about my blog.
I don’t buy the whole 160k per kid thing.
First of all, we have six kids. I make under 60k a year – pre tax. At 160k per kid, I would need 960k after taxes just to pay for the kids. Assuming I walk home with 60k a year I would still only have one million after 18 years and I would still have to pay for a house, insurance, etc.
I think this estimate assumes that your kid is going to have his own car, wear designer clothes, have every toy he wants and eat steak every night.
Based on our current expenses plus a generous increase over time, I expect to raise all six of our kids to age 18 for less than 300k.
Yeah, I’m not sure I buy the dollar amount either. Seems like that might include designer clothes, x-boxes and full price tuition at fancy schools.
But I liked the broader point that to try to quantify parenthood with a dollar amount misses the essence of what parenthood is.
And it’s just that kind of quantification of children that leads to thinking we own them, which in turns leads to the contraception/abortion mentalities.