I am reacting to your statement "Kids cost exactly what you will spend on them." Because sometimes, you can't actually say no, like you can to extra dance lessons, out of town field trips, etc. And it is often something you could not foresee. That is not the same as complaining, or saying that it can't be done, not at all.....
Your flippant statement(s) and accusing me of complainypants and posting links is either intentionally rude or excessively naive of you.
I stand by the logic statement that something costs what you pay for it. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, that wasn't my intention. I was trying to encourage folks to avoid complaining, and instead focus on solutions. It seems like many arguments in this discussion boil down to 2 things:
1. Sports/School/Music/Ballet/etc. cost money, sometimes more than what some people think is reasonable.
2. Medical/Dental/etc. issues can crop up, and cost a lot of money.
Whatever you pay for 1. and 2. is exactly what they cost you. This is not offensive, this is fact.
So, to avoid complaining, I propose the following for each "problem":
1. Pay what you want to pay, don't pay what you don't want to pay.
2. Carry health/dental/etc. insurance, and either have enough money saved in an HSA, FSA, or another non-med account to cover your max out of pocket expense for at least 1 year. (Currently, I have 2 years of max out of pocket expenses saved in my HSA.)
Remember, this is the MMM forum, not reddit, let's not bring each other down.