Product Description

According to reports, it costs upwards of $190,000 just to get a child to the point that college is a possibility. But none of these studies takes into account the hidden fees of parenthood: the doubling of caffeine expenses to combat sleep deprivation, new membership dues for exciting clubs such as Weight Watchers, and escalating photo-processing bills.

While other parents resign themselves to covering these necessities without a word of acknowledgment, Betsy Howie decided to keep a running account of her daughter's first year of debt: her hilarious memoir, Callie's Tally. "I want my daughter to know how much life costs and what things are worth," she writes. "I want her to know what she's worth."

"I would also like to get some money back."

Describing how having a child turned her bank account (and her life) upside down, Howie debates such topics as whether babies should pay for post-partum candy binges, in-utero rent, and travel expenses incurred while being shown off to in-laws. Part Bridget Jones's Diary (after Bridget snags the boy) and part Operating Instructions (for the fiscally obsessed), this witty chronicle offers a receipt-by-receipt answer to the question: exactly how much does a baby cost?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2061423 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-16
• Released on: 2003-09-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this irreverent look at new motherhood, playwright Howie (coauthor of the off-Broadway musical Cowgirls and author of the 1998 novel Snow) attempts to track the financial costs a baby imposes as one indication of the enormous changes parenthood brings. She "bills" her daughter before she's even born, for items as large as a changing table and as small as prenatal vitamins. After Callie arrives, the charges keep mounting, and Howie divides them into categories such as "etiquette" (e.g., stamps for thank-you notes for the many gifts she receives, $6.12), "sanitation" (e.g., a 68-pack of Pampers for $12.97) and "furniture" (e.g., a 3-in-1 bouncy chair for $25). Along with the financial details, readers get a glimpse of the emotional and interpersonal turmoil that accompanies the arrival of a baby, and also learn that Howie's exhaustion is only rivaled by her enormous love for her daughter. The author wants her audience "to have a firm grasp on a hard number before they roll around and make themselves one of these little bundles of sweetness and light." Throughout, she admits that some costs cannot reasonably be charged to Callie, as when she asks, "How do I charge you for stealing my want to do anything but stare at you?" This amusingly realistic account of a year on the front lines of parenting may not be a definitive guide to the financial costs involved, but it does provide a new perspective for moms and dads-to-be.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Betsy Howie is a playwright, actress, and author of the novel SNOW. Her plays, including the off-Broadway musical Cowgirls, have been read and produced in New York and around the country.