It’s back to school time, and I just read that parents are paying up to $200 just for school supplies, not including school clothes, activities fees, and other more individualized expenses. Wow! How does the average parent afford it? Just think, if a parent earns $10 an hour, he or she must work over two full days just to pay for the pencils for the school year. These kind of expenses must be kept in mind when one is considering how many children to have, if any.