IIRC one kid totals an average of 250k in expenses over 18 years, for simplicity we’ll say 240k and 20 years,
One kid costs about $1k a month right now.
What adds insult to injury is how those costs can be subsidized, free school meals alone would SIGNIFICANTLY lighten the load on lower class families, improve educational outcomes, improve child nutritional outcomes through regulation of what’s on the menu, and even improve sociability since kids now have additional settings to encounter their friends in where their parents and teachers are supervising to correct bad behavior.
Plus it adds an incentive for rich kids to mingle too since being the one person who’s not at school dinner because their parents can practically hire a private wait staff and meal planner is immediately going to single you out and there is NOTHING that hurts a kid more socially than sticking out for something like being a rich kid.