I need to know the average $$ amount that a family (household, either
single parent or two parent or any configuration of family with
children under 18 years old) spend on parenting services (advice,
counseling) and products (safety locks, diaper pails, etc) relating to
their children.

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Clarification of Question by brandingmama-ga on 20 Dec 2005 14:39 PST

Thanks spanky-

I am specifically looking for an obscure number relating to services
the parent purchases for parenting outside of food, toys, home, health
of the child.  These would include: Advice, counseling, parenting
books, classes/parent education classes, lactation consultants etc.

I may be able to make an assumption from what you offered though.

Here's an interesting calculator that can work the cost of raising a
child. Its not a string of facts specifically like you asked but it
can give a rough idea:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/calc/raiseChild.asp

According to research done by Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society the
cost to parents to feed, clothe and school a child from birth until
their 21st birthday is £130398.

Working back from that figure, it gives a value of £6209 a year which
equates to just under $11,000 USD.

The bank rate calculator link I gave above gives a value of
approximately $10500 USD per year which is within 5% error of the
Liverpool Victoria generated value above.

In 2004 the US Department of Agriculture estimated that a family that
makes $70200 a year or more will spend approximately $269520 to raise
a child from birth through to the age of 17. This equates to $15854
per year. Higher income families in the urban West spend the most at
$284,460 or $16732. Lower income families earning $41700 to $70,200
spend $184320 or $10842 per annum. Families earing less will spend
$134370 or $7904 pa.

Source: http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Raisekids/P37245.asp

Also, I quote from the site:

===============================================
That breaks down to nearly $15,000 a year from birth to age 2 for
families in the $65,800 -plus income bracket. As your child ages, he
or she gets even more expensive, topping out at $15,810 from ages 15
to 17. This is no back-of-the-envelope guesstimate. The survey
involves visits to, and interviews with, about 5,000 households, four
times a year.

Nor is there much in the way of cost-effectiveness for larger
families. With an older child of 16, the USDA study says, a family
with a second child under 2 lays out $20,740 for the both of them each
year, with the numbers growing progressively as the children get
older. With three children -- the two older ones being 16 and 13 -- a
third child aged 2 years or less rings up an annual bill of $24,160.
===============================================


Summary annual costs from various sources:

===============================================
Source                       $ per year*
===============================================
Liverpool Victoria           10936.26
Bank Rate Calculator         10584.88
US Dep of Ag High Income     16732.94
US Dep of Ag Mid(H) Income   15854.12
US Dep of Ag Mid(L) Income   10842.35
US Dep of Ag Low Incoe        7904.12
===============================================
* These are averages over years. Bear in mind that the latter years
would actually cost more than this and the first years less.

For the more detailed results by the US Department of Agriculture's
findings see the PDF report file linked below.


Interesting links:
http://www.babycenter.com/costofchild/ - Baby Center Cost of Raising a Child
http://www.csgnetwork.com/childcostcalc.html - CSG Network Child Cost Calculator
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Crc/crc2004.pdf - Expenditures on Children by
Families, 2004 report.
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/using2.html - Expenditures on Children by
Families list of annual reports (1995-2004).



I hope this helps you with your question! :-)


Spanky