I am 25 years old. My parents divorced when I was 1, and I always lived with my mother. My father never lived more than 15 minutes away, and I saw him all the time. He paid the court mandated child support of $50 a week until I graduated from college. that money wasn't anywhere nearly enough. my mom always made more money than my dad did anyway though, and i never asked him for anything else, so it worked out in the end. just remember if you make a big deal about money, then your kid will eventually think that is the most important thing in the world. more than likely they will start to equate love with money, and it can cause a rift in the relationship.
ideally, there shouldn't have to be court mandated child support. on the other hand, there shouldnt be greedy ex wives who spend child support on vacations or other things that should go to the kid. in the end its just the principle of the support, not the actual numbers that count.
just don't complain about the money to the kid. my dad complained about it all the damned time. as a result we arent as close as i would like to be. my dad would complain that he wasnt giving more money because he didn't have more of a say on how i was raised or what i did in my life. i said he wouldn't get the input into life decisions without more money. you can go round and round in circles over it. its obvious you care about your child. speaking from personal experience, nothing good can come from the kid hearing parents complain about support.