Posted by Big Daddy on February 26, 2009
When I was a kid, I loved getting money from the tooth fairy. But I noticed that some of my friends got more money from the tooth fairy than I did . . . and some of them got less. I was one of the lucky kids who would wake up with a sweet $1 under my pillow. Once I even tried to put a plain white tic tac under my pillow in hopes of tricking the Tooth Fairy to leave me some extra money. Of course, it never worked!
My daughter and her friends are at the age where they lose their teeth, and it seems that the new market value on teeth under the pillow is $10 per tooth! And in some cases I am hearing that in addition to the $10 there are gifts like movies, cd’s and things like that. If the Tooth Fairy keeps spending like this, she is going to need some sort of government bailout as well!
That begs the question: How much SHOULD the tooth fairy give per tooth?
Well, according to a recent survey, more than HALF of all dentists think $1 is an appropriate amount, 16% think $2 is appropriate . . . and 17% think the going rate should be $5 per tooth.
What does your child get? Is $10 too much? What do you think the “going rate” should be?
$1 per tooth, nearly always in the form of a dollar coin.
Comment by A in NoVA — February 27, 2009 @ 8:46 am
We have four kids and my youngest just lost her first tooth a few hours ago. What we have done with each child, is give them double their age on the first tooth they lose because it’s a very special occasion. So, my daughter will get ten dollars for her first tooth as she is still five.
From then on out, she will get a dollar for each year of age for each tooth. We thought long ago that this could be a way of encouraging them to take better care of their teeth as they will get more money the longer they keep them. Of course, we know they will lose them when they lose them, but it seems to work with kids as a motivational tool.
Also, we always spray their money with glitter to make it look very magical and I design a beautiful, personalized note on the computer and include it with their first “payment” (also sprayed in glitter) to make the experience even more exciting and as a way to have “someone else” encourage them to take excellent care of their teeth.
Childhood is so incredibly short and once you reach adulthood, you’re an adult for the rest of your life so we have tried to be creative and show them how magical life can be! The older ones appreciated our efforts enormously and miss the excitements they’ve grown too old for now. =0(
I LOVE BEING A MOMMY!
Comment by Christienne — June 29, 2009 @ 12:07 am
100$ is what i think the tooth fairy should give for the first tooth. well i did rip out my tooth when i was 3. and now my tooth will be coming out soon so i wanted to know if you will know when my tooth is going to fall out. and if you know when my tooth will be coming out do you think i am going to get a 100 dollars.
Comment by emily — March 20, 2010 @ 7:19 pm