Well, starting at the age of 3, you get a kid who can program your TIVO, fix any setting on your cell phone, send goofy text messages to EVERYONE in your address book and pitch the most phenomenal fits in the middle of the night due to sugar imbalance (or something).

And remember that old parental trick of spelling things to prevent young ears from hearing too much? Fuggedaboutit!!!

Finally... if you manage to provide just a fraction of the support/love/challenge they really need, perhaps they'll go off and do wondrous -- and financially rewarding -- feats for the benefit of humanity... and be able to support YOU financially while you dotter away your golden years rocking on your front porch, muttering something about standard deviations, LOGs, or some such nonsense.

Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house. - Fran Lebowitz