[mackco79 (Premo)]

Originally Posted by skizzle

I completely disagree with you. It takes more than $600 a month to raise a kid, especially while still having daycare costs. My daycare is $365 alone. Then you can include food, electric, rent, vehicle maintenance, phone, dental/medical, clothes, school supplies, and even fun every now and then. Oh and lets not forget the voilin, soccer or any other afterschool activities that costs money.
So the basics to raise a kid go beyond your $600 marker and it keeps going from there. If I was by myself, I wouldn't have the extra bedroom, large space to heat, extra mileage on my vehicle, etc.
And you want to talk about this 50% even share crap. Oh please. If the kid lives with the cust. parent, then that parent is already doing more than the 50% share. It is not just about the money factor, but also who takes more responsibility of the kid. If the non-cust. parent only sees said kid every other weekend, would you still consider that 50%?
You want to talk about a 2nd job? Do you think it's fair for the cust. parent to work 2 jobs while trying to take care of the kiddo? Do you think that really benefits the kid? No, that takes away from the kid, no matter how old. Think again out your statements.
In a perfect world, this would be black and white. Instead, it is grey all over.

Ok here is how I look at things when it comes to the child support I pay. The courts ordered me to pay 1150 a month in support for my 3 children. The support is taken right from my paycheck. If there was daycare involved it would have been 400 more a month. If she uses this money to pay her car payment,rent clothes or even gas in her car thats fine with me cause it in someway benefits the kids... I pay half the copays and prescriptions on all medical issues. I keep insurance on the children until they are 18. Its not up to me to tell her how to spend the money. As long as I see my kids are being taken care of then who cares how much or what she spends the money on.