Have you ever just chuckled when you are smack dab in the middle of a conversation, and then you realize if there were any outside ears listening, that person would surely raise their eyebrows and wonder about you?
Yes, our family has far too many of those, but it sure does make life interesting, and keeps the theme of Beauty AND bedlam permeating throughout all areas.
Well, we had one of those recently. It involved the going rate of the tooth fairy, and what constitutes a “tooth worthy of cold, hard cash.”
Now before you think me harsh, realize that we have five children. That’s a lot of teeth, a lot of dentist bills, and a lot of discussions about money from those teeth, and how to save money on them, not throw it away.
Just last week, our eldest had three wisdom teeth pulled. Now even though he was very brave when he lost those teeth, yes, a character trait which typically constitutes “a tooth worthy of cold, hard cash,” those teeth, now in a little plastic baggy, cost us literally $1,000 times the going rate of the tooth fairy, so unfortunately, I had to renege on that one.
That was an easy mom decision, but what about those teeth that have cavities? And maybe not just one cavity, but a tooth already that has cost us its weight in gold, or silver, or whatever they use these days?
This was a tricky thought process for me. There have been those dental visits where the dentist assured me that cavity snuck in there, and there was nothing our child could do about it, but there have also been those cavities where he assured me, they needed to step up their brushing.
Remember my last post with my confessions about being a Dental Visit Failure? Yep, that was one of THOSE visits. Some of our children are responsible and diligent brushers, and some are just lazy. We are trying to stay on top of our lazy brushers. 🙂
So, do you moms draw the line on which teeth get money?
Do you even give money when your child loses their teeth? If you do, how much?
For as long as I can remember, we gave a bit extra for the first tooth that our kids lost, but then assured them, the tooth fairy was congratulating them for being such a big boy or girl, but mom didn’t think it would be as much next time. 😉
Yes, frugal to the core, I am, but then one of my friends told me that their neighborhood tooth fairy gives $5 for each tooth. FIVE DOLLARS?? I didn’t realize that the tooth fairy gauged his rounds on inflation. Is this an issue of keeping up with the Jones?
So, let’s fess up. I think I am really out of it.
What is the going rate for the tooth fairy these day?
i don’t pay my kids for EACH tooth, just the first one – with 6 kids, I’d go broke!!!
We pay $1 per tooth. 🙂
We get Susan B. Anthony coins or 50 cent pieces and use those. My son loves coins and he is happy with that.
We don’t do the tooth fairy (or Santa, Easter Bunny, etc) so $0 here!
$2 for most $5 for some teeth like the ones that hav wobbled and wobbled for ever would never not do it, this time goes too fast and these memories last forever. 🙂
It was zip.. nada.. nuttin hunny.
Our tooth fairy brings the dollar gold coins. One per tooth. I hadn’t given any thought to cavity filled teeth not getting paid. Interesting point. When Luke lost his first tooth, he bawled at the idea of not getting to keep his teeth so he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy to please leave the teeth too.
1.00 bill, 1.00 in quarters (wrapped in the dollar bill) and a trail of glitter to the money that the tooth fairy dropped on the floor.
My kids get $5 for the first 2 and then coins or $1 for each after that. But because they have a bed and pillow at my moms she gives them each a dollar too!
the tooth fairy brings my child different kinds of whistles! in fact, just last night she left a slide whistle. she has left kazoos, sparkly whistles in the shape of lips, duck calls, penny whistles–i can’t even remember all of them. money gets spent, but she now has a collection of whistle that she’ll be able to treasure for a lifetime of memories.
We didn’t do the tooth fairy, but we did give our son some $ for the 2 or 3 teeth he lost. He still wanted us to put the money under his pillow, so after first tooth we put $1 under there. In the morning, he gave us back the dollar bill and informed us that he was supposed to be paid with a coin – a quarter. I think we convinced him to go ahead and take 2 quarters. 🙂
Tooth Fairy was always only used for loss of first teeth, not the second set, wisdom teeth etc. I say give what you can afford, if that’s 50 cents, it’s 50 cents.
As we all know, fairies are very tiny and like shiny things. They only give 1 very shiny coin for each tooth here! (otherwise, how would they carry it?)
We give $2 (a toonie here in Canada, and sometimes in place of that a token of some kind, like a bead or a shell we’ve collected). The first tooth got a sand dollar from a beach the tooth fairy had been to that night 😉
We do two shiny quarters, just like when I was little, fairies are immune to inflation!
Mom, go easy on those poor kids who practice good oral hygiene, but due to the extra pockets and crevices in their teeth, are more prone to cavities! My son and I have these wonderful teeth-more than a little aggravating.
Our tooth fairy, Mary leaves $1 or $2 bills in cool origami shapes and leaves the teeth per the kid’s request.
1 trip to the Dollar Tree to get ONE thing.
I used to give silver dollars and let the kids trade them in on dollar bills.
$1 gold coins
We don’t give our kids any money for losing their teeth.
We don’t do the tooth fairy thing.
A gold dollar or a$2.00 bill.
25 cents my oldest is almost 19, we have not adjusted for inflation.
I give them a dollar per tooth usually
I did not want to get sucked into paying for teeth but I did want to commemorate losing teeth. So, since the state quarters started coming out when my oldest started losing teeth, they have each gotten 2 state quarters for each tooth they have lost.
We don’t allow Santa, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy in our house because they’re make believe. We teach our children to be real, and we can celebrate whatever the event is for the REAL reason. So I don’t have a going rate for the Tooth Fairy. =]
My grandfather left me false teeth under my pillow once!
One dollar — and they are thrilled!
We do $5 for the very first tooth, then $1 after that. But…. we did just have a 6 year old have two teeth pulled (our first attempt at avoiding braces in a very crowded lil mouth), and the tooth fairy left a $20 bill!!! But, surviving those two shots surely deserved something! :o)
We do $5 for the very first tooth, then $1 after that. But…. we did just have a 6 year old have two teeth pulled (our first attempt at avoiding braces in a very crowded lil mouth), and the tooth fairy left a $20 bill!!! But, surviving those two shots surely deserved something! :o)
$1/tooth is our going rate here.
Haha! I remember getting a quarter! Now, I have heard anywhere from $1-$5 for the first one (poor tooth fairy had to get 2 jobs!)
I always gave $5 for the four front teeth then usually a dollar for each after that. It was always so much fun seeing the kids when the checked under their pillows. Don’t you just love the opportunity to allow our kiddos to use their imaginations! 🙂