Almost $300,000, according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report (pdf):
[A] middle-income family with a child born in 2011 can expect to spend about $234,900 ($295,560 if projected inflation costs are factored in). That’s a 3.5% increase from 2010 and a 23% hike from 1960 (that’s when the USDA first issued this report) when the cost of raising a child was equivalent to $191,723.
And that doesn't include university:
If you’re already balking at the quarter-million dollar price tag, consider this: the report stops at age 17. Parents who send their children to college can add a significant sum to the total. The report notes estimate by the College Board that in 2011-2012, annual average tuition and fees were $28,500 at 4-year private (non-profit) colleges, while annual room and board was $10,089.
Caption for the above image, via Shit My Kids Ruined:
My son decided to take three dollar bills that I had. For some reason, he claimed them as his own. He put them in the refrigerator at first and was upset with me for taking them out so he put them back in. A bit later I went upstairs to start laundry and came down stairs to this…. Each piece was crumpled into a ball. Time to teach him the value of money I guess.
The Dish 