Inflation - The Effects of

Have just been watching the Money Programme on BBC2 – The Cost of Kids - £180.000. When I last delivered a baby, which was only yesterday, it arrived absolutely free of charge and wrapped only in its perfect skin which had been made by the fusion of its parents genes, which, if I remember my biology correctly, was achieved by them having, well, you know ‘relations’, which is usually the spontaneous act of desire and expression between two people who fancy the pants off each other. This, of course, is usually free and costs absolutely nothing, unless of course you have had to go through IVF to conceive and if you have, then I apologise because I know that this costs more than just money. In fact, all babies and children cost and are about more than just money.

On a practical level, let’s face it. Does a newborn baby really care if its nursery is colour co-ordinated with all the latest furniture and gadgets guaranteed to stimulate and bring on your child on in leaps and bounds to become the next ‘super brain’ or ‘Olympic athlete? Does it really care if its bottom is washed in only the best ‘top and tail set’ costing £100 when a Tupperware bowl at £5 will do exactly the same job? Does it really care if it is dressed in a designer babygro costing £85 only for it to puke on or have a really horrendous nappy on to which the contents of leaks when a Tesco or Boots own at 3 for £7 will do exactly the same job? No, absolutely not.

Do you know what – parents to be should be much more concerned about the long term emotional and physical commitment a baby/child/teenage is rather than the financial one. Parents to be should be much more concerned about how the whole experience from the conception to the birth to the time after will affect their lives together and not just from a financial aspect. Of course, this is important, but all babies need initially is food, warmth, dry clothes, and lots and lots of love and attention.

Watch this space for my top tips for common sense ways of having a baby ‘on the cheap’.
Babies are for life – not just for Christmas!