Little bundle is coming at a bigger cost

Expecting families can count on more than just the number of mouths to feed going up.

The average cost of raising a child to age 17 last year was $222,360, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's report on how much middle-income, two-parent families spend on their kids. That's up from $182,857 in 1960 (adjusted for inflation).

The biggest change in expenses was in child care and education, which rose from just 2 percent of child-based expenditures in 1960 to 17 percent in 2009. The report called that jump "the most striking change in child-rearing expenses."

That's no surprise to Minnesotans, who pay some of the nation's highest child care costs. The average annual cost of full-time care for an infant in Minnesota is $13,650, and the average annual cost of full-time care for a 4-year old exceeds $10,000, according to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies 2010 report.

Suzanne Olson, 47, of Maple Grove, and her husband adopted their 4-year-old son, Leo, from Russia three years ago. She said she pays between $10,000 and $11,000 a year for day care.

"I hesitate to say it's expensive, because I do advocate for teachers and child care experts being well-paid," she said. "But it is a budgetary expense."

The report indicates that the rise in child care expenses is likely due to the increase of women, and more specifically, mothers, in the work force. Indeed, as Olson was growing up, her mother stayed home and cared for five children. But Olson now works as a senior marketing specialist at Thrivent , meaning Leo spends most weekdays at a day care center.

To some, like Olson, day care is more than worth it.

"The last thing I was thinking [when we were adopting] was, 'Can I afford child care?' " Olson said.

She also cautioned that in her case, it's a temporary expense; Leo will be going to public school within the next year and the Olsons' child care expenses will evaporate.

Health care costs doubled, according to the report, from 4 percent in 1960 to 8 percent in 2009. Housing expenses stayed constant at 31 percent from 1960 to 2009, while food and clothing expenditures dropped from 24 and 11 percent in 1960 to 16 and 6 percent in 2009, respectively.

Even while miscellaneous expenses dropped from 12 to 9 percent of child-rearing costs, Olson noted that parents today have to contend with new gadgets being marketed toward children on a daily basis.

"In 1960, there was no such thing as an iPod," she said with a laugh. "And now my 4-year-old is asking for one, regardless that he doesn't know what it is. ... When I was growing up, we had one record player in the living room."

Ben Jones • 612-673-4426