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Published 04.08.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (15)
My nine-year-old daughter has lost almost every one of her baby teeth and collected, on average, a dollar a tooth for each of them. Now her baby molars are falling out and they're falling out in two pieces which means, obviously Mother, she gets paid twice for them. Our tooth fairy is no dummy though, she brought fifty cents for the first molar and another fifty will come when the other half falls out. She's smart, now if she could only remember to actually come on the night one of my kids loses a tooth.
Today I thought it would be fun to take a look at Tooth Fairy traditions and gear.
The Tooth Fairy myth originated in the United States but is found in many other countries like Ireland, South Africa, Italy and Australia among others. It's said to be a combination of an old European tradition of burying lost baby teeth in the ground and the story of a tooth mouse from a French fairy tale titled, La Bonne Petite Souris. A mouse is transformed into a fairy to help a queen defeat an evil king. The mouse/fairy hides underneath the evil king's pillow and eventually knocks out all his teeth.
Ouch.
The tooth fairy tradition in other countries is often different from the Fairy myth we have in the United States. In Italy, Spain and France a small mouse collects children's teeth. In some Asian countries children throw their tooth on the roof if it fell from their lower jaw or put it below the house if it fell from their upper jaw.
You can read about all the various tooth fairy tradition in Throw Your Tooth On The Roof, a book of collected traditions by Selby Beeler.
I love the selection of Tooth Fairy related gear at Chasing Fireflies. My kids are very light sleepers so if the tooth fairy were to reach under their pillows to collect a tooth, they'd definitely wake up. I love this hippo version the most. I've also found that if the tooth box is left on the kitchen counter, instead of on a bedside table the "Tooth Fairy" is a lot more likely to make a deposit in a timely manner.
You can also make your own tooth box, like this one at Family Fun constructed from a large matchbox. I like the ribbon handle so this box can hang on the outside of a bedroom door. Further insuring the tooth fairy will not forget to stop by and won't have to worry about tripping over toys and waking up a kid.
This Tooth Bear from Martha is a bit more complicated but far too cute not to share. I know it's sewing but remember the softies my kids and I made? It has to be easier than that, the bears only have one head after all.
According to this CBS report, the going rate for teeth is rising, up by 22% a year ago. The average kid is raking in $2.09 on average per baby tooth. I'm taking heart though in the fact that most parents in the survey said they give out $1.00 per tooth. How much does your tooth fairy fork over per tooth?
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Comments (15):
De in D.C. said:
$1 per tooth, though $2 for the one that fell out on Christmas Eve (in defense, the one previous to that he swallowed and the tooth fairy didn't come).
Posted on April 8, 2008 17:10
designingmama said:
We do $1 a tooth, and the tooth fairy folds it into a little origami star with glitter inside. There is usually glitter on the window sill, too. The big question is why I started that stupid tradition in the first place... I have since recovered from my hyperparenting ways!
I live in Massachusetts, and several people I know give $5 a tooth! It's hard to explain to the kids why the tooth fairy is cheaper in our house, but I'm sticking to my guns.
Posted on April 9, 2008 09:31
Lisa said:
The tooth fairy gave $5 for the first tooth, but $1 for each one after that...in change, for some reason they find that fun at first. I found that in order to remember, because I have forgotten 2 nights in a row, I put the change just under the covers in my bed as soon as I'm informed of the lost tooth so that when I go to bed there is no way I can forget...unless I want to sleep on a pile of change.
Posted on April 9, 2008 20:33
justAcliche said:
In our house the tooth fairy gives a gold dollar and a 1/2 dollar for the first tooth. All remaining teeth get a gold dollar. So - $1 a tooth but not just any dollar - a fancy dollar!
Once they hit double digits the tooth fairy no longer pays. And in this house of 4 boy children, my 13 y/o & 11 y/o are still losing baby teeth so it's saved us a lot.
Posted on April 11, 2008 15:55
Heidi said:
Tooth fairy brought my daughter 1 - 3 dollars per tooth (she's 15 now) and my son lost his first tooth last year (he's 5 now) and for the first one the tooth fairy brought one dollar, last month he lost his second tooth and I figured they would be pretty spaced out so the tooth fairy brought two dollars for that tooth. Today, he pulled out another and informed me that since it was his third tooth, the tooth fairy was bringing 3 dollars and he was going to try and pull out more - wow, this could get expensive.
Posted on April 11, 2008 16:07
Robin said:
The last time my daughter lost a tooth, I forgot. She came into our room the next morning and cried, "The tooth fairy forgot to come." I quickly said, "Really? Lemme help you look" and scrambled to get some quarters and stumble into her room where I "found" the quarters inside her pillow case.
Posted on April 11, 2008 16:09
Anne said:
$5 for the first tooth, $1 for each one after that. To solve the problem of waking up light sleepers, our tooth fairy left instructions that teeth should be left by the tooth brush in the bathroom because she likes to check the brush as well and make sure you've been using it. And when Caroline's tooth came out while she was eating lunch and swallowed it, rendering her inconsolable and in floods of tears, T.F. wrote her a note about how accidents happen and she'd be back for the next one. God bless a communicative Tooth Fairy.
Posted on April 11, 2008 17:07
natasha said:
I am so doing that next time! great idea.
I give $1 per tooth as well, the real trouble comes in when they hear that their step-sister gets $20, that is ridiculous. It could also be her exaggerating, she does that from time to time.
Posted on April 11, 2008 23:13
Bonnie said:
We gave $5 for the first tooth $2 for each thereafter, given in 'gold' $1 coins so they are more like treasure.
Posted on April 12, 2008 07:09
Justine said:
I love the tooth fairy myth, I think my parents were a little dull with their's - just a tooth in a glass of water by the bed and hey presto in the morning, it would be a coin in the glass of water.
I could never quite work out how my friends got visited by a tooth fairy that left glitter or coloured their glass of water pink...!
My son's only five, but has already had a visit from the tooth fairy as he had to have two teeth surgically removed. He got $2 a tooth that time, probably because I was still recovering from the trauma of watching him go under a general anesthesia and had that whole guilt-parent-thing goin' on.
Incidentally, only just today I blogged about "lying" to your kids and would love your view!
Posted on April 13, 2008 07:32
Deena said:
I always received a silver dollar as a child so I give my kids either that or a golden dollar. I keep a stash in a trinket box on a high shelf (less chance of them finding them). That way I have a coin when the tooth falls out during dinner.
Posted on April 14, 2008 15:04
KYouell said:
Wow, I'm old. I got a quarter per tooth. My kids are too young, but I guess I'm going to have to either do the dollar or something else like a gift. Like a version of the Halloween Witch where they get to pick out a few pieces to eat and the rest of the treats go on the doorstep and they get a toy the next morning. Something along those lines because I'm not paying $5 per tooth!
Posted on May 4, 2008 19:36
Unicornmon said:
i remember alot of things with my tooth coming out. i even once asked for a video game instaed of money lol! but i remember my final tooth that i lost i got the most out of it ( i think it was $10 or $20)
Posted on August 26, 2008 18:19
Shelley Mitchell said:
We give a $2 bill per tooth. It is something 'unique' and fun.
Posted on September 12, 2008 10:02
jtaylor said:
Our son gets a collectible coin for each tooth. He recieved a 1903 Barber half dollar for his first tooth. The coin is 100 years older than he is. His second tooth brought a walking liberty dollar from the year that his grandpa was born. He loves saving them in a folder we found and learning about the coins.
Posted on February 23, 2009 20:19