Cost of Raising A Kid
The cost of raising a kid can be very expensive, especially if they know what they’re worth.
(This comic strip was previously published on June 3, 2010.)
Jan Howard Finder, better known as Wombat, passed away eariler this year. Although I didn’t know him well, he was the first wombat I met online and was a kind and interesting soul. He had a passion for science fiction, Tolkien, and wombats. A memorial and Irish Wake will be held on June 1, 2013, at the Holiday Inn Wolf Road in Albany New York. More information can be found on his Facebook page.
Don’t forget the interest!
I didn’t think about that!
Plus add in all the years you’ve been with Chris…that ought to increase it a bit. 😉
I think Chris just had a heart attack!
Oh no! Maybe you could give him a discount. 🙂
I guess. But not too much!
Aw, but your a generous Wombie, Fraz. Maybe you could discount the interest some… I’ll give you a fudge and walnut brownie if you do.
OK! It’s hard to resist fudge brownies!
I thought you might. Now one more thing. If you can talk my Wombies out of pulling this stunt on me I’ll run your Milkshake shack for a week.
OK! I just have to bribe them with fudge brownies! That’ll work!
Great! I’ll start running your milkshake shack starting tomorrow morning so you can just have fun playing and just doing what you want.
Pirating! This will be our first big pirating adventure this year!
Didn’ t you go on one two month ago with Dink and Chewy?
I meant the first big one of the summer!
I gotcha. And it’s going to set off a big summer of pirating too. Shadow will be ready this time!
Yep, it’s gonna be the summer of pirates! Arrgg!
The unassailable logic of children.
Does that mean I’m right?
Yes!
Yay me!
Here a cookie for smart Wombie of the week!…okay, all year.
I could use a cookie too!
Raising kids has been expensive indeed! They suck out your money and brain cells.
PS. Can you guess why I’m up so early this morning?
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2013/05/gbe2-no-comfort-in-my-fictional-world.html
Maybe that explains why adults are so weird.
It’s likely. 😉 🙂
If adults went back to being kids they’d be way happier.
That’s true, Fraz. They need to stop and remember how to have fun, just for fun. 🙂
I could teach them that!
I know you could. You the Kingpin of fun!
If those adults came to my beach party they’d have loads of fun!
They could learn a lot from you!
They sure could!
First they need to try your pirate pizza. That will get them in a happy mood.
Maybe I should make a happy pizza special for adults!
This is why you should never let your children get smarter 😉
Too late! I’m already smart!
Put it on my tab!
No way! I want cash!
*gulp*
Maybe Chris can shave-off a few bucks with a substantial chocolate bribe?!
🙂
I might take it in chocolate. . .
It is very sad that he has passed away but also nice that he has not been forgotten and so this is a very nice gesture Peter, of which his many followers and friends will be grateful for
R I P – Jan Howard Finder
Yes, he was quite an interesting person, and loved his Lord of The Rings!
I think Chris will be hounded all week for this repayment, erm refund, I mean Fraz’s extra spending money 🙂
I won’t stop bugging him until he pays up!
Fraz if you need any help I can
assist you in the bugging stages 🙂
Yes! Two against one will be a lot better!
Maybe we can get Aunt
Deb and Aunt Soma helping us? 🙂
The more against Chris the better!
Poor Chris.
I was going to say poor Chris too but he needs to learn a Wombie lesson, and that is to never try tricking Fraz out of his extra allowance, or his wicked pocket money, or anything else for that matter 🙂
Yeah! And I’m gonna tell him what you said! Maybe he’ll listen to you!
I bet he don’t. And I’d check under his mattress too…he could be holding out on you.
I bet Chris has a big safe somewhere stuffed full of money!
It could be under the floorboards or in a dug-out hole in the basement likely covered up with something else.
I’m gonna use my pirate skills to see if I can find it!
Hunting for someone else’s money can be dangerous business.
But I’m a pirate! I like danger! Arrgg!
Arrh!…of course you do. 😉 🙂
Deb can me and Fraz have some strawberry ice cream with double fudge topping? 🙂 We like that one a lot and you can join us as I have three spoons ready 🙂
Yeah Aunt Deb has never come along on one of our treasure hunts!
Super large salad bowls of strawberry ice cream with double fudge topping coming right up, Andro. One for each of you and another if you want more!…I put sprinkles on it too. 🙂
I got my patch and bandana on, and ready to go! Oh, and I stopped at your pizzeria and picked us all up some large pizzas. 😉
Yay! It’ll be our best pirating adventure ever!
Thank you we love strawberry ice cream and we always enjoy your sprinkles too Deb so don’t add them sparingly, we like lots and lots and lots of them don’t we Fraz? 🙂
I like chocolate sprinkles the best!
I will bring along a trio of Zombies for the treasure hunting, I mean while you and me eat lots of pancakes and chocolate they can do all the digging 🙂 I like that idea don’t you Fraz? 🙂
I guess if you can keep the zombies under control. But they can be pretty sneaky!
Zombies can not be trusted!
That’s for sure!
And their always hungry…for us!
That’s why I never invite them to our parties!
Yes Zombies are sneakier than Skunks and smell even worse so we have to be careful Fraz 🙁
Maybe we should wear nose plugs too!
$10,000!? It gets even worse with the exchange rate into Euros.
$10,000 X $1.29 = $12,900 My kid is getting really ripped off! 🙂
When he’s older I’m gonna tell him what you owe him!
Don’t tell mine.
OK I won’t! Promise!
Phew!…thank you!
I could use another one of those extra special milkshakes though.
One double trouble, super duper, hurricane chocolate fudge, and toffee crunches milkshake, topped with the finest of chocolate whipped cream, and a premium chocolate covered cherry…made special for you!
That’ll make me sleep good tonight!
Then you should have a big appetite for Twink’s pancakes…Here’s a stack of mine to tie you over….dripping with butter and syrup.
That’s just what I needed before we go out on our pirating adventure!
$5 is not much in a wombat-eat-wombat world.
Try telling Chris that!
You couldn’t get a winegum with that!!! Sheez Chris!!!!
Maybe you could start a petition! I need more money!
Loon have you noticed how tight that Chris is getting lately? 🙁 xxxx
Yeah, he won’t even pay up what he owes me!
I know, it’s a crime that is 🙁
I know! I wanna be rich but Chris isn’t helping me!
That debt only covers THIS year, though. Add your previous years and the interest!
Wow, thanks! I didn’t think of that!
Totally agree…kids are terribly expensive!!!
Nice to see you back, Shree!
Thanks so much for the welcome back! 🙂
You’re welcome, Shree. I hope everything is well.
Yes they are very expensive. They don’t realize that until they have kids themselves then the light comes on. Bless their hearts.
Have a terrific day. 🙂
And by then it’s a little late!
Lock the fridge and see how much that $10,000 he will have left.
With any luck, $0. 🙂
You mean me or Chris?
I don’t eat hardly anything! You should see what Winky eats!
Yes he can eat a lot more than you and me Fraz, I have seen him polish off a whole batch of pancakes all to himself many a time 🙂
Winky keeps that automatic pancake maker we have very busy!
Sound like Dink at my house. 🙂
I bet Dink would!
I think Dink and Winky are like a couple of hungry Zombies only instead of brains they eat all the chocolate that they can fine 🙂
Yep! I kinda do too. But Winky’s bigger than me so he eats way more!
He is bigger than me too, so he must be a lot bigger than we thought 🙂 He likes his tum arriving before his nose anyway so I guess he will eat even more now 🙂
If Winky eats any more there won’t be any left for the rest of us!
The cost is actually higher than that (although I don’t remember the number and I’m too lazy to do the research) but ya gotta love Frazzie for trying to turn the tables and make a profit. 😛
Chris owes me! I’m getting ripped off!
Wait till they start college, you’ll be paying that tab AT LEAST once every 3 months! W.C.C.
Hear that Chris? Just give me the money now and we’ll call it even!
See how handy it is to learn math Fraz. Maybe Chris can double your $5 allowance until the debt is paid in full?
I like math when it gets me money!
I think $50 a week would be a lot better! Or maybe $100!
Let’s settle for a cool $500 a week, that is a nice round figure and will soon give you the full repayment 🙂 I wonder what you will be treating yourself to? 🙂
$500 sounds good!
Maybe I’ll get a Ferrari!
Or a nice looking Porsche,
Chris can’t have a ride in it
though unless he promises
to repay all of your cash 🙂
We might let him wash and wax it 🙂
That sounds fair to me!
I’m not sure what Chris will say though!
I have a pretty good idea. 😉
He always complains about something!
He must be miserable with himself.
He needs to eat more chocolate or something.
Your right. Chocolate makes everyone feel good! 🙂
That’s what it’s made for! Chocolate is happy food!
And delicious too!
That helps make it happy! And us too!
He doesn’t have a choice, especially as he is so naughty not giving you your cash 🙂 Maybe he will see sense, eventually 🙂
I hope so! But I’m beginning to doubt it!
Yes and he likes those moths
too much to let them all escape 🙁
Chris has moths? I wonder what he does with them?
2000, 5 gallons of ice cream ought to cover it.
It’d cover me that’s for sure!
I like a nice helping of ice cream too Deb so don’t forget to order triple the ampont 🙂 Oh and maybe some extra cookies would be a good idea too Fraz and me love cookies don’t we Fraz? 🙂
Oh dear, AMPONT is a Scarecrow word meaning quantity, so can we have a large AMPONT of the ice cream and cookies Deb? 🙂
Yeah, we want lots! Well I guess 2000 five gallon things of ice cream is a lot!
I’ll bring the milkshakes!
That’s the best idea you have had today Fraz, hey seeing as we are having lots of ice cream and milkshakes, maybe we should splash out some of Chris’ cash and have a beach party? 🙂 We haven’t had one in ages so it should be a lot of fun 🙂
Yeah we need one of those! It”ll be on my pirate island! A beach pirate party! Everyone’s invited! Well except the zombies.
Yes I will bring the traps over, some do need fixing but with your expertise I am sure that they will house them perfectly while we enjoy the Pirate Partying 🙂 Don’t forget the Party Hats 🙂
Of course we can’t forget the hats!
We better start fixing those traps right away!
I got you both covered right here. I have all the ice cream…chocolate of course, to feed both of you and all your guests, and plenty for the party.
I also made you each a Double trouble, super duper, hurricane chocolate fudge, and toffee crunches milkshakes, topped with the finest of chocolate whipped cream, and a premium chocolate covered cherry…straws included. 🙂
That was really really really good! That was the best milkshake ever! And our party has just started!
There’s more where those came from! 🙂
I was kinda hoping there was!
Wow that was a swirly wicked whirlwind kinda treat Deb and it certainly blew the striped and dotty motifs off the Zombies socks too, actually I think Fraz and me would drink lots of those beauties at the party, but I hope they don’t blow our hats off 🙁
I don’t think they will. We’ve got elastic straps on our hats!
That’s a great design Fraz, and we get to drink all those hurricane milkshakes without losing our hats, we might need a few corks for later though 🙁
Very thoughtful of you to post this about Jan Howard, Peter.
R.I.P. Jan Howard Finder
I didn’t know him well, but Jan was a very friendly guy. And being known as Wombat, I’d like to think he would be pleased to be remembered here.
I think that mentioning
him is very nice Peter 🙂
I hope Jan would feel the same way.
He will more than likely be sat on a cloud giggling at all these brilliant cartoons, oh yes I am sure that he appreciates your fine mention of him 🙂
Thanks, Andro,
You’re welcome Peter 🙂 🙂
That was very thoughtful of you, Peter. 🙂
Thanks, Deb.
Wow this new place
is very quick Peter 🙂 🙂
Well done on moving
everything so quickly
and more importantly,
so efficiently too 🙂
The site had slowed to a crawl on the old webhost, so I hope it does better here. They have good severs, and run Litespeed, which is supposed to be much faster.
Well it is certainly working at ramming speed at the moment, so how brilliant a move is that 🙂 🙂
Still have a number of problems, though. Like many of my old links not working anymore.
That’s a real shame Peter, maybe you will find a way of re-booting them? Well I do hope so anyway 🙂
The database got messed up a bit. I think it can be salvaged.
This is excellent news, okay get Binky on that one 🙂 He is behind on the rocket project so giving him another job in between might give him some incentive to get us all into space a lot sooner rather than later 🙂 It’s a win, win idea that could even work 🙂
Binky was too busy with “important stuff.”
I do believe I’ve got it mostly fixed now, except for a few problem links.
At least the speed is top notch Peter and that will bring everyone back time and time again 🙂
I think that you deserve a nice choco flavoured doughnut with extra caramel and peanut butter cream for all your hard work 🙂
Well done…
And I seem to be maxing out on the server resources here, too. I don’t get a huge amount of traffic, so I don’t really know why. I need to work on trying to fix it.
I haven’t got a clue as to what the problem is Peter but if anyone can work it out, you can and I hope everything falls into place soon 🙂
Thanks. I hope I can. . .
You changed site? but this one still appears on my rss feed.
I moved the site from one web hosting company to another web hosting company. It should look the same for the visitor, all except for the errors and problems that were caused by the move.
Right I will zoom off next and see what Deb is getting up to on her Space, I wonder what she has painted for us all? 🙂
Make sure you tell Aunt Deb to bring her whole gang over to the party. Mitch can take us all fishing one day I hope!
Mitch is an expert at fishing so he should be able to teach you and me a few tricks 🙂 Those sharks don’t stand a chance now that we are joining the fishing craze 🙂
Mitch already taught me lots of stuff on our last fishing trip. But I got lots more to learn!
I was fishing, that why I’ late for the party, but I brought lots of chocofish for us to eat.
Dad (Mitch) said we can go fishing again this weekend…or anyday.
Yay! Any day’s a good day for fishing!
Wait while I get my
fishing rod and keep
net 🙂
If your net’s big enough, maybe you can just catch them with that!
A great soul indeed may his soul!
R I P – Jan Howard Finder
Thank you, Dilip.
I’ve heard they are cheaper in pairs. 😉
🙂
I’ll tell Chris I need a brother then!
You are right spot on. Kids everywhere besides rich kid are getting ripped off. Power to the kids.
Maybe I could be rich if Chris pays up!
Oops, I’ve nearly missed your coming into money Fraz, has Peter paid up yet?… 🙂 … $10, 000 a year? and how old are you now?… Hmmm… Good luck with the debt collecting… xPenx
I think Chris is gonna make excuses why he can/’t pay me. But he owes me!
Don’t worry Fraz I have a team of hungry looking Werewolves standing by in case he forgets to pay you 🙂
That should make Chris pay!
Lady Pen help yourself to a few of our supercrazywickedhoopla milkshakes if you like, they kinda get you dizzy with the spinning chocolate fudges but me and Fraz always like them 🙂
Should have asked for more and then get down to 10K. At that point Chris will think it is a bargain.
Maybe you could negotiate for me!
Fraz…don’t forget to count your food, chocolate, clothes, unnecessary things you want, etc! 😉
To Peter: so sorry to hear about Jan Howard Finder
Fraz always counts very well when it comes down to his delicious treats Miss. Novia 🙂 xxxx
I never miss a treat!
We all know that 🙂 Here have some of my cherry flavoured wine gums, it’s a Winky special so it should taste delicious 🙂
They do! Mmmmm!
Should I charge Chris more for all those things too? I better add them up!
You will make Chris terribly broke 😉
That’s OK. He’s used to being broke!
Thank you, Novroz.
Expensive no doubt but with lots of love and affection in return.
See Chris? I’m worth it!
Fraz if Chris doesn’t pay you call me..he has to pay all that and all the years of Binky’s preaching and tolerating Chris plus the mental harassment and ..
you should ask for 10 million
10 million!? OK I’ll try! I kinda think Chris might not go for it though. He’s a cheapskate!
Poor Chris 😉
That’s what he always says! I’m poor!
Hey Peter, that upshot in the last panel is really cool!
Thanks, Denny. It’s sometimes difficult to fit these two characters into the frame, so some unusual angles help.
Wow. I have some retroactive allowances to cash in on.
Parents are ripping us off!
It is cheap to raise a Wombie! It costs more per year than that to raise a child here!
I’d rather live with you than Chris! Maybe he’d pay you to take us!