My two million dollar family

I'm sure you have all seen the "cost to raise a child" estimates before - you know, the ones where they figure up how much you'll spend on food, shelter, clothing, etc. before the child turns 18. Those people with children at home after 18 are on their own. Anyway, I used this calculator at BabyCenter and I came up with a figure of $488,000 to raise my seven year old, $546,000 for my four year old, and $588,000 for my two year old (it only does children born in 1999 or later). Add in my oldest, and we're at $2 million, give or take.

Now, looking at their categories and estimates, I think they're way off. First off, when I add the numbers myself and then multiply by 18 years, I get 1.2 million, not $588,000. But beyond that, they've totally left off the category of 'Damages'. You know what I mean.

"Don't touch that DVD!" CRACK! And there's twenty dollars down the drain.
"Stop jumping on the bed!" BANG! New bed frame - only $100.
CRASH! "What was that?" "Nothing!!" Cost of nothing - about $20.
And so it goes, on and on. Things get broken around here on an almost daily basis, and the only reason it's not daily is that sometimes my parents are here and they go break stuff in their motor coach instead.

There are just all kinds of things they don' t tell you when you set out to start a family.