PARENTS across the North Shore could be forgiven for spitting into their self-indulgent lattes this week after learning that it costs next to nothing to raise a child - if you budget properly.
Contrary to the experience of 99 per cent of local families, a report from the right-wing Fraser Institute pegs the cost of raising a child at between $3,000 and $4,500 a year. That's in stark contrast to most other estimates that start at between $10,000 and $15,000.
Those higher figures, the think tank argues, are a reflection of bourgeois choices and don't reflect the reality that a little belt-tightening could accomplish.
Among the luxuries families could do away with, apparently, are expensive housing costs, because social housing is plentiful and cheap.
In Narnia, where the report's writer obviously lives, the $10,000 per child many families spend on daycare is also a needless frill. One parent can simply decide to stay home - without impacting the ability to pay for items like food and shelter. "In other cases, parents may have free daycare at their place of employment.. . ." And if you believe that, we also have a bridge we'd like to sell you.
Not surprisingly, the report has generated blowback, some of it highly amusing.
It would be funnier though if the topic weren't so serious.
As the report's author notes - while pooh-poohing those who "(lobby) the state for more resources for families and children" - measuring the costs of children is politically laden.
