When I was a kid the Tooth Fairy would bring a nickel or a dime for each lost tooth. I sorta-kinda remember getting 25 cents once, but that’s probably wishful thinking. My parents had four kids and not a whole lot of cash.
Possibly one of my classmates bragged about getting a quarter per cuspid and I dreamed it would happen to me as well.
The annual Original Tooth Fairy Poll from Delta Dental says today’s kids are getting an average of $5.70 per first tooth lost. Dang.
That’s actually a slight drop from last year’s average of $5.72 per tooth. Even so: Dang.
Maybe that sounds like a lot to me because when I was a teenager, at-home moms were earning $25 a week to watch other people’s children. They got $5 a day to change diapers, rock colicky criers and keep preschoolers entertained for nine hours a day.
All that today’s kids have to do to get $5 is give an extra tug to that barely-hanging-on molar.
Or perhaps I’m comparing it to the silver found under my own pillow. According to an inflation calculator, my 10-cents-per-tooth would be worth just 71 cents today.
Back in the 1980s I used to give my daughter a dollar each time she lost a tooth. Then again, I was the mean mom who made her chip in 50 percent for big-ticket toys. That’s how Abby got things like a Nintendo game system (old-school!) and the Baby Heather* doll.
The Tooth Fairy and inflation
Back to the $5.70 number: Are we spoiling our kids rotten, or should we keep in mind that it doesn’t buy much these days? I keep forgetting that the world is a pricier place than it was when I was a kid and we were each given $1 to spend on school field trips.
(I distinctly remember a trip to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and going from display case to display case in the gift shop, trying to figure out how I could get gifts for all six people in my family for a buck. Did it, too. Grown-up me is still pretty sure that my mom and dad really did want things like Franklin Institute rulers and erasers.)
A dollar still feels like real money to me, but it isn’t. When my niece planned to take the boys on a day trip, I had the impulse to give them each a dollar to spend – until I realized there wasn’t much they could buy for a buck.
Then I thought I’d give them each $5, and realized that even that wouldn’t do them much good. Ultimately I decided to put the fivers into their college funds.
Readers: What has the Tooth Fairy been leaving at your house and/or your grandchildren’s houses?
*For her hilarious take on this doll and the lesson it taught in advertising vs. reality, read “Baby Heather was possessed! And other money tales.”
First tooth was $5, I think. With subsequent teeth yielding $1 each. It kept things simple. Now we’re about to start braces. Ugh.
The tooth fairy never left me a thing. I think my kids got a quarter a tooth. No big spenders here!
I remember when I was a kid my family going to town on Saturday night & Dad handing me & my brother each a quarter. That went on until in high school. Of course there was a free movie on Saturday night, a root beer sour was a nickel, a sticky bottom cinnamon roll was a nickel, a package of gum was a nickel and so were candy bars for twice the size of the dollar ones now days. Good times!
My kids got $5 for each front tooth and $1 for all others.
I think I got $1 for each front tooth and $.25 for all others.
Wow how things change….maybe that is why we have some many kids feeling entitled to stuff and not thinking how can I earn money and get what I want.
I got a quarter, *maybe* fifty cents on a good day – this was mid 70’s.
My allowance was $1.25/week – and I did a LOT of chores for that! I remember when my older Brother graduated and moved out, and his chores were divvied between my Sister and I and my allowance went up to $3 a week – I thought I was rich!
We are totally old-school: $1 for the first tooth and 25¢ for the rest. It’s less than any of their friends get, but I’m soooo not trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Clearly, you rock.
My parents didn’t believe in the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny. We only got gifts for Christmas and birthdays. 1950’s child and money was very tight.
My 7-year old has lost one tooth and is going to be losing her second soon. We did $5 for the first tooth and will do $1 for each subsequent tooth. To make it extra special, I got a $25 roll of dollar coins (the ones with Sacajawea or U.S. Presidents on them) and figure that should get me through all of her baby teeth easily.
Some of her friends get $20 for the first tooth and $5 for subsequent teeth! I was floored to learn that.
Holy cow, $20? I think that’s setting the bar pretty darned high.
We give $1/tooth. My daughter lost two teeth yesterday and was very happy with her $2 this morning! I certainly won’t mention the average going rate to her….
I seem to remember placing a handful of change (probably $1 +/-) under her pillow.
I’m one of five and money was tight(early 90’s). I got a quarter and thought it was amazing(when you’re five and there’s still penny candy at the drug store, it’s a big deal). Unfortunately around 8 or so, I found out really quick the tooth fairy didn’t exist(along with Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc.) but I tried to help my younger siblings keep the magic a live a bit longer. But now it does seem ridiculous. My younger cousin got $10 for his first tooth. I’ve a daughter who’s only just now 2 and my husband and I agreed a dollar for the first tooth and a quarter thereafter.
I remember penny candy, too, which is why even a nickel was cause for rejoicing.
And I’m with you and your husband: $10 is a bit much.
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.
In th emid- to late 70s, my sister and I got a quarter a tooth. I seem to remember that being the case for my own kids in the mid- to late 90s, but I could be misremembering, or we might have increased it later on. Certainly no more than a dollar, in any case.
I’d never heard of giving extra for a first tooth. Sort of like a new customer bonus, if you will. And now I’m picturing several tooth fairy cartels leaving competing junk mail under kids’ pillows, each touting their sign-up bonus… “Hey, heard you have your first loose tooth! We offer the best rate for your lost teeth. Just sign the contract below and leave it under your pillow to receive a bonus of$X with your first lost tooth!”
Boys got a $1 per tooth. Unfortunately tooth fairy only had a $5 on a motel night for hockey tournament. It set a presidence and they would let those teeth dangle until the next hockey trip.( 2005ish?)