It's a conversation i have most weeks-if notrnmost days. This time, it happens when my 2-year-old daughter and I are buying milk at the supermarket. The cashiers fawn over her pink cheeks and applaud when she twirls for them, and then I endure the usual dialogue. "Your first?" "Yup."rn"Another one coming soon?" "Nope-it might be just this one." "You'll have more. You'll see." "At the moment, I'm not planning on it." "You wouldn't do that to your child. You'll see." I offer no retort, but if I did, I'd start by asking these young minimum-wage earners to consider the following: the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the average child In the U.S. costs his or her parents about $286,050-before college. Those costs have actually risen during the recession. The milk I'm buying adds up to $50 a month, and we're pushing toilet training just to drop the cost of diapers-about $ 100 a month-from our monthly budget. It's a marvel to me these days that anyone can manage a second kid-forget about a third.
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