My son finally lost his first tooth. About a month before his 8th Birthday.
Apparently he’s like the last kid in the whole wide world to lose a tooth. As his mother, I am totally cool with him hanging on to his baby teeth for as long as possible. I am also now responsible for perpetuating the lie that is The Tooth Fairy.
The night he lost the tooth, his father convinced him to put the little pebble like memento into a plastic baggie. And set it on his nightstand, rather than under his pillow. Actually, I think Devin came up with the nightstand idea because that was far more practical than expecting a Fairy to slide under your pillow - after she’s gone through all the trouble of flying through your window.
So Devin goes to bed, the husband goes off somewhere else, and I am left to do the Tooth Fairy bidding. To be honest, I’m a little excited. I’m the mom who wakes up my kids in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve so they can “sneak” a peek at Santa Claus. There’s something really fun about passing on an illogical belief in magic.
Except, I don’t carry cash. Ever.
I check the mad cash wallet in the junk drawer (that may or may not at one point have been a child’s wallet and somehow has turned into “when we need cash for crap” stash) - but there’s only a twenty. There’s no freaking way I’m putting $20 on the kid’s nightstand.
No biggie. Surely I can find enough change to equal a dollar. Right?
I go through the change purse of my wallet and the husband’s nightstand. Three quarter’s, three nickels and a dime. Well, it’s not pretty… but it’s a fucking dollar.
I sneak in, swap out the tooth for the coins (because “coins” sounds so much classier than “change”), and sneak out. And snicker to myself and how sneaky I am!
The next morning, Devin sulks out of his room, bag o’ coins in hand.
“Hey buddy! Did the tooth fairy come last night?” I ask, trying to feign ignorance. Which is hard for me, being naturally brilliant and all.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Ooooh, did the Tooth Fairy bring you money? How cool is that?” I am practically oozing with smugness. I rock as a parent. Really.
Devin thrusts the baggie towards me in disgust, “the tooth fairy gave me 90 cents!”
“Ohhh that is - wait. What? What the hell do you mean 90 cents?”
“Yeah. 90 cents. Isn’t that weird?”
“That is a little strange… I wonder if maybe the tooth fairy brought you a dollar and one of the coins…” I begin casually upturning the furniture in his room to find that fucking dime. Son of a bitch.
“Yeah, I know. The kids at school said I would get at least two dollars!”
“I know honey, I’m sure - what? Two dollars?? It’s a tooth! It fell out of your head! All by itself!”
“I’m just saying. Everyone else gets two dollars. Sometimes more.”
“Yeah, well, it was a little tooth.”
Seriously people?? Two dollars? Sometimes more?? I’m pretty sure when I was a kid it was considered a raise when you got TWO quarters instead of one. I thought I was being generous with a whole dollar (er, 90 cents, whatever.) A friend of mine told me they gave their kid $5 and a Disney DVD. PER. TOOTH! (And I love you honey, but that’s just CRAZY TALKIN!!)
Internet, enlighten me. What in the name of all that is holy and/or made up is the going rate for this:
Posted in Bitching Again, all in the family, just rambling
My theory is that Devin knows that it’s you and is just fucking with you to see how much money he can make. I think we got a quarter for our teeth when I was a kid, but I don’t even remember having that happen more than once or twice.
Back in the olden days, my children only received 50 cents. But with inflation now and the stock market not doing real well…..
90 cents is fine…you can always have Santa put another $1.10 in his Christmas stocking. Start a new tradition.
Honey, the going rate is at least two dollars! I am sorry to tell you!
It amazes me that kids EXPECT more than a dollar. I think that we were lucky to get $.50. Save the two dollars and them some for the molars.
‘Scuse me? Two fucking dollars? Whatever. Try a quarter. For teeth with fillings (hee hee!) my dad would leave a dollar in Susan B. Anthony form, but that was it. I usually got a Kennedy half-dollar.
Sheesh. Two dollars. By the time my twins start losing their teeth, they’ll be getting yuppie food stamps (aka $20 bills).
$5.00 for he first tooth 2 or 3 for all those after.
A dollar - sorry - what’s an almost eight year old kid who can’t drive himself anywhere to spend it going to do with five dollars anyway?
And for the record, I STILL don’t believe in extravagant “Easter presents” either.
Now - for the Nanna part…
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! I am so excited for him and he looks so AWESOME!
Sheesh. Just when I think I want kids, I start to think maybe I don’t after all! ;)
I just beat my kids for losing teeth and then making a mess…. Just kidding.
When my oldest believed in the tooth fairy it was a buck - the little one has yet to loose a tooth..
It was a buck when we started with my kids. I do believe 2 is the going rate. Damn that Universal Health Care, makes the cost of everything go up.
Just wait for the trauma when he swallows one. This to shall pass.
avitable: your theory has some merit. We’ll see how smart that little fucker thinks he is next time when the Tooth Fairy takes his TV away.
Trish: how about a roll of Smarties instead? He likes candy.
Kristin: your opinion means nothing to me. Your kids get wayyyy more shit than mine ever will! LOL
Heather: yuppie food stamps, LOL, ohhh that’s priceless. Must find excuse to use that in a conversation. With actual yuppies.
Ann 208: la la la la la, I am not hearing this kind of advice! la la la la la la
Mom: I think we should start a family tradition. Thanksgiving presents for everyone not living in Iowa! Yay!
wafelenbak: the little bastards are expensive - if you FOLD!
ADW: excuse me? You mean if I tell him there is no tooth fairy… I don’t have to give him money anymore?
Interesting…
Doug: so I can blame Bush then?
I got a quarter, but then you could buy a six pack of Coca Cola for that then.
Sorry, Britt, $10 for the first tooth, and then $5 for each after. All his money goes towards something special he is saving money for or his savings, both of which still come from my pocket, so same difference expect I involved him a little more.
And yeah, I caught some shit for it but, he’s my first baby! And I was very excited about that damn tooth!
We always did $10 for the first tooth, and $2 for each tooth thereafter.
Yes, that’s why we’re broke.
LOL, I don’t give it to them! We send them to their mom’s with their teeth in a baggie in their pocket! We pay BIG bucks in child support for her to play tooth fairy! LOL
You’re lucky he’s not asking to drive mom’s pretty new car to school.
I’d be expecting a hellalot more than JUST $2.
Once again, proof that The Good Lord is looking out for future generations by not allowing me to procreate.
My mom sewed together a Lilliputian pillow with a pocket in which to place the lost tooth. I would lay this pillow on the dresser, and the next morning would find a whole dollar in the pocket. That was 30 years ago, Britt. Inflation dictates at least a quid.
When I was a kid it was 50 cents to a dollar. I don’t know the going rate now. I didn’t think the tooth fairy took inflation into account.
He would have been perfectly happy if he didn’t talk to the kids at school.
He wasn’t lying… Two dollars is the going rate now. That’s what our Littleone has gotten for all of the teeth she’s lost, except for the molar she had to have pulled, for which she received 5 dollars. Inflation sucks.
I only have one kid. I am a bad example for all the other parents.
My son got a few dollars for each tooth. Little did I remember they lose molars as well… AND that happens AFTER he already knows about the whole Tooth Fairy not being real. Little snot was able to con me out of 5 bucks for those–except that one time he was finishing a book and wanted 15 minutes more to read and finish it. So I guess my spoiling him isn’t hurting him any–I mean he passed up CASH in order to FINISH a BOOK! That is proof a little spoiling goes a long way. Or something.
90 cents is fine. Where is he gonna spend it anyhow?
Hahahaha!
90 cents?! That’s pretty thrifty of you, Miss Britt. I would’ve left the kid with a pack of Marlboros and a Playboy.
RW: I think the Tooth Fairy discourages drinking of coca-cola anyway, on principle.
Victoria: you win Motherhood. Clearly. :-)
Blonde Chick: yeah, but I can take him to DISNEY! I mean, in theory. LOL
Kristin: I need to find someone who will pay me child support.
Michelle: but he didn’t DO anything!!
Gecko Rock: I refuse to acknowledge inflation. Unless I’m asking for a raise.
Lynda: good point. I need to start discouraging interaction with other children.
Tense Teacher: I think I need to teach him about Reaganomics.
themuttprincess: I give him hugs. Does that still count as spoiling?
BottleBlonde: thrifty is a dirty word. I prefer “tight ass”.
we always got kennedy half dollar coins. or susan b. anthony dollar coins. i’m 36. and a half.
(finally made it back safely from vegas and trying desperately to get caught up on all my blog reading. you fuckers who post every day make my normal days bearable, but make getting caught up a bitch. in a wonderful way. xoxo)
Man, kids these days really do get everything ;).
TWO DOLLARS????
It’s a good thing that I am not a parent cause I would have seriously short-changed my kids!
Wow…my parents gave me one dime. I remember thinking that was so cool a shiny dime all for me!
However when I was 25 and had my wisdom teeth removed I stayed at my parents house that night and jokingly said hey you think that tooth whore will come visit?? My dad laughed at me when I said oh I am so putting my teeth under my pillow, There was a happy crisp one hundred dollar bill when I woke up the next morning (now granted being that I was 25 I paid for the oral surgery myself). My dad told me the tooth fairy pays for wisdom!
So I think it is great to have that tradition with your kid!
I gave my kids $5.00 if they lost the tooth on a holiday and $2.00 otherwise. This all started because when my son lost his first tooth (on Easter) all we had on us was a five.
They’re now 25 and 28.
Hmmm…. it was always just a $1 around here. I think I got two quarters when I was a kid. But around here, it’s $1 per tooth. But, we make sure it is either 4 quarters or a dollar bill.
Then of course, you know that the Tooth Fairy takes every Tuesday off, right? I didn’t realize that until the year Kate lost a tooth on Tuesday, put it under her pillow that night and got up the next morning PISSED because the tooth was still there. We explained to her that the tooth fairy takes Tuesdays off because she has to work the weekends sometimes. :cheesy:
So the next time it came up… (again on a Tuesday, strange) she said… darn it! I have to wait until tomorrow! I had forgotten and asked why… and she reminded me that the Tooth Fairy doesn’t work Tuesday nights. LOL
Isn’t losing a tooth gift enough?! He should just be happy he gets an adult tooth in its place!
(No? … Yah, this is why I have kitties.)
I think I got a Kennedy half dollar when I was losing teeth, and that was the late 60’s so…I would say $2-$3. sounds about right.
At our house it’s a dollar. Unless Mr and Mrs. Toothfairy end up playing pool and getting drunk and totally slacking on their toothfairy responsibilities. That’s when the kid gets $10 of guilt money.
Oops . . . ^^^ That’s me.
I have no children, but I know my friend gave her kids $5 a tooth. Inflation, baby. I remember my grandpa gave me a twenty when I lost my first tooth. But he was just insane like that.
Cheapskate! It could only have been more insulting if you had forgotten to remove the tooth.
My kids got a dollar. Use my trick if you ever forget to do the tooth fairy thing. More than once I forgot, kid would come to me and say the tooth fairy missed him. I would scratch up a dollar, go in his room, then yell, “I found it! You must have pushed it behind/under your bed in your sleep.” Worked everytime.
hellohahanarf: do they still make those??? *ducks*
Hilly: I’m convinced this Tooth Fairy Inflation is the root of the downward spiral of our entire society.
deb: OK, fair enough. If my kid starts paying rent, maybe I’ll give him two dollars.
Linda~: at least I scrounged for change! If it would have been all I had on me, he would have gotten lipstick!
AmyD: LOL oh that is brilliant! Where was that wisdom BEFORE I had to search for that extra 25 cents?!?!
Poppy: I should have been a cat person.
Mr. Fab: you’re old. So you’re probably senile too. Therefore, your suggestion of giving him multiple dollars is null and void!
Honeybell: I think my son is getting a guilt trip to Disney for his birthday in a couple weeks…
Karen: I want my kids to know I wasn’t insane. Crazy and potentially dangerous - but not insane.
DeannaBanana: you’re supposed to take the tooth?? :confused:
Summer: maybe I should hang out in strip clubs so I am more likely to have a dollar on me at all times. You people with all your paper money amaze me!
Your kid just had a fucking bone fall out of his body and people are bitching about $2-$5?!! Holy fuck man, if it had been an arm bone or a foot bone, even a nose bone you would have been freaking out and money would have been no object if they could just regrow a bone for your little boy.
Sure you lived through it as a kid and now it seems childish… but holy fuck man! What if other body parts grow loose and start to fall off?!! (Don’t tall Adam this train of thought because I suspect he freaks out every day when his morning boner fades) So dig deep and put a smile on that poor little toothless face (even if he is middle aged for tooth losers) You guys will only go through this experience this one time, so make the most of it…. Tell him the tooth fairy left an IOU for 4 more bucks written in Fairy dust on the outside of the baggie and never noticed it.
On the other hand.. OUR Tooth Fairy had to keep making appologies because Mrs. Y2K and I would often fall asleep before the precious little monsters and the kid would wake up the next day all excited only to see the dead and decaying tooth left on the night stand and feel completely rejected. Talk about feeling like a BADDDDDDDDDD parent!
I had planned to give my kids $1 for each tooth. Unfortunately, I never have any cash on me either. My oldest daguhter surprisingly lost her first tooth when my husband was out of town, I had no cash and was stuck at home with sick kids. Of course she lost this tooth right before bedtime, so I had no time to plan. I thought “hey, no big deal, I have a $5 bill, and the first tooth can be special and get extra money”. It was fine UNTIL she lost her next tooth the next night and AGAIN all I had was $5. This is why my kids get $5 for each tooth. I hate it! I have 4 kids and am going to go broke paying for their teeth! BUT we don’t really do allowance, so I guess this makes up for it?
I used to get a quarter per tooth, and I’m only 32 so it hasn’t been that long!
My son recently lost a tooth at grandma’s house, and the tooth fairy there left him $5. FIVE BUCKS? What the hell is that?
I hate to tell you this but the Tooth Fairy brought me SILVER dollars for each tooth and that was 48 YEARS(!)ago. My grandmother saved them all in an envelope for me and when she died, there were the dollars in an envelope with my name on it. Those tooth fairy dollars, when cashed in at the height of the silver market paid BIG dividends.
I think you should make a trip to the bank. Silver dollars have a certain, oh, cachet.
WOW! 8 and losing his 1st tooth, my 5 yr old was so desperate to loose hers, I would have had to sedate her if she had to wait until she was 8! Plus her siblings were losing teeth left and right when they were 5. Our tradition in our house is to give abook with 1 dollar under the pillow. Yep, I get a culturally interesting book, slip in a dollar, write a note in the book from the Tooth-Fairy and that’s it. I know it seems abit much, but I wanted to put more emphasis on something other than money.
Thank you for the kind words over at my blog! I love your blog, it’s way cool!
Love,
Babz
Y2K Survivor: do you have PMS?
A BONE? It’s a tooth! A new one is already growing in!
tori: I don’t do allowance yet either.
Crazy Lady in Vegas: thank GOD my son didn’t lose his first tooth at grandma’s. The going rate would have suddenly become ponies and tree houses.
Mrs RW: you mean.. like.. go INSIDE the bank?? People still DO that??
Lovebabz: pshaw! My blog looks like the Enquirer next to yours. LOL Thanks for stopping by. :wave:
I gave $2 100 years ago to my daughter (DAMN she’s old - LOL). Until she spent the night with a friend in the country & lost a tooth…all they had was a five. Prices went up after that.
And my 8 year old grandson already has BRACES. Damn.
When my son lost his first tooth, he came home and told me that one of his friends had gotten $20 from the Tooth Fairy.
I told him that his Tooth Fairy must be very rich. My son got $5. That was good enough, in my opinion!
It’s very hard keeping up this Tooth Fairy act! For one, my kids aren’t the heaviest of sleepers so crawling (yes, crawling)into their rooms isn’t easy. Then I have to select a color of food coloring in a cup of water because the TF has dipped her wings in the cup…as everyone knows! The first time I did that, I had the brilliant idea of mixing colors. Try doing that in the dark. My daughter came in and told me the TF had pooped in the water ’cause of the horrid brown color! Then I HAVE to carry on tradition from when I was a little girl and write a note to them from the TF herself (yes, ours is a girl). It’s a total PITA and I’m hoping one day my kids ask if the TF is real so I can give up this charade already!
Lola - you KNOW I love you dearly, but can I just say the food coloring cracked my ass UP? LOL…
*ahem*
sorry.
;-) I’m pretty sure Fab will want to know if they drank the water & what color their poop was.
If I use 50% of what my dentist charged me for my adult tooth… that comes out to roughly $764.37.
2 bucks is a bargain.
No I DO NOT have PMS! ….I might have a few unresolved Dentist issues though. That’s beside the point, Tooth Fairies are designed to help kids get over the fact that their bodies are beginning to fall apart with advancing age (usually around age 6) and from there it is an all too short ride to bald, overweight and in your mid 40s. …eh so I hear.
When Y2Kette lost her first tooth (I helped pop it out) she looked at it for a second with a mixture of awe, terror, and wonder before looking up at me with a huge smile and saying, “Now Mom HAS to buy me a bra!”
I never did understand her logic, but I don’t understand women as a rule anyway.
Tug: yeah, mine didn’t get baby teeth until later either - and I remember the Doc saying back then that was a good thing because it would be less time, ultimately, that he’d have to ruin his grown up teeth.
Lola Magnolia: I had no idea there was so much legend surrounding the Tooth Fairy! This whole ordeal sounds more like the elaborate planning we do to “catch” Santa every year! LOL
Tug: :lmfao:
NYCWD: I will not be fooled by your *fuzzy math*
Y2K: “Tooth Fairies are designed to help kids get over the fact that their bodies are beginning to fall apart with advancing age”
Wow. I had no idea. :dazed:
My math skills are superbly accurate in this case.
Better get that second mortgage out now while the rates are low.
I’m saving that for the pool.
Maybe I’ll tell him the Tooth Fairy put the pool in.
Miss Britt.
I am so enjoying myself on this blog! Thank you so much for visiting and adding me to your blog roll! You have made my day!!!!
Oh you are too cute - your writing kicks my writing’s ass - and is totally blogroll worthy.
$5 for the first tooth, Mama!
The Internetz is trying to bankrupt me.
DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TOOTHS ARE IN HIS HEAD!?!!?
I thought a dollar a tooth was acceptable until I found out some of my son’s friends were getting up to 20 dollars. 20 bucks a tooth! If I knew for sure the Tooth Fairy existed I would pull out my own teeth for that!
You’ve just given me another reason not to cave to this rampant consumerism - I’m protecting my son from the temptation to rip out his own teeth!!