Tooth Fairy, Wherefore Art Thou?

I got home about 20 minutes ago from my friend's magnificent Thanksgiving feast. Gosh, I am SO tired. I just want to put on some Maxwell and go to sleep. Instead, I have the enviable task of transforming myself into the tooth fairy.

My six year-old lost his first baby tooth today. It's been a really long time coming. I feel like he's been wiggling that tooth for ten years or something. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. Maybe he's been wiggling it for a mere five years. -- Regardless, it's been a long time!

Anyway, the tooth finally came out and everybody's happy. This morning the tooth was suddenly hanging from a string. Finally!

Of course, my son is all about business so he immediately ran around saying that the tooth fairy was coming and leaving some money for him under his pillow.

Kids are delusional these days because I asked him how much he thinks the Tooth Fairy should leave, and he said $10! Clearly the look on my face told him otherwise, because he immediately back tracked and said $1.

I remember back in the day how I was lucky if I even got a quarter for my teeth. The word "dollar" didn't even enter into the conversation!

So what amount of money do you think is the right amount for the Tooth Fairy to leave under a pillow?

Comments

Jameil said…
lmao @ $10. that's what happens when you raise kids in LA. pretty sure we got $1 per tooth.
Mes Deux Cents said…
Hi Liz,

Even though .25 cents was the going rate when I was a kid, I suppose you must consider inflation.

So I think $1.00 to $1.50 should do it.

(lol)
Ian Lidster said…
A quarter? You got a quarter? I got a lousy dime. But, I'm a little older than you. But, loss of that first tooth is just one of many transitions in life.
Liz Dwyer said…
Jameil,
You know! He was all ready to roll up on Toys R Us and go shopping. I had to tell him that the Tooth Fairy doesn't carry that much cash!

MDC,
So I fell asleep before deciding how much money, but my husband stuck a sandwich bag of about a dollar in change under my son's pillow. The only problem? He forgot to get the tooth! So my son is psyched this morning that he got to get money and keep his tooth!

Ian,
I'll tell you, I cried a little when that tooth came out because it was just such a moment of my little baby growing up.
Anonymous said…
I love stories about your family. I'm sure the dollar was just fine. No reason a little guy needs any more than that.

Kari
Anonymous said…
Wow! My six year old's first tooth is about to come out as we speak! He turned 6 on Wednesday. My husband wants to tie it to a string and a door and slam it shut. LOL. Of course I said "NO". Jameil1922 is right, my son also wants a lot of money from the tooth fairy.

These L.A. kids I tell ya.
Liz Dwyer said…
Kari,
He was psyched about the dollar and the fact that it's all change made it seem like so much more. I totally feel like slacker mom though that I couldn't even get it together and do the tooth fairy thing correctly! LOL!

Joy,
Yeah, my son knows how much a video game costs so he figures he should get enough money for one. He'll be seven in January so I've been waiting for ages for a tooth to fall out. He has three other ones loose right now. I wanted to do the string thing and he almost agreed to it, but at the last minute, I decided to spare him. Thankfully, two days later, it came out on it's own.
jali said…
I think a dollar is enough. Your baby has quite a few more teeth left.
Lisa Blah Blah said…
That's funny, my little one was asking about the Tooth Fairy the other day and at 4.5 years old, she is nowhere near having her teeth ready to fall out. But my first thought was how much I should have the Tooth Fairy leave per tooth. I concluded that a buck a tooth was fair - a totally arbitrary amount - but glad we are on the same wavelength! Esp. because you say that he has other loose teeth. At $10/tooth, you could very quickly be out some seroius cash!
Liz Dwyer said…
Jali,
I told him today that if he saves up all the money the tooth fairy gives him, he might be able to get a video game! He wanted all his teeth to come out at once, or at least until he realized that he might have a hard time eating! :)

Lisa,
Well mine thinks that if he puts the tooth under his pillow again, the Tooth Fairy will come back and give him the ten spot tonight! I told him that if he does that, the Tooth Fairy will come back and snatch the first dollar back! He's trying to bankrupt me over here!
the last noel said…
When I was a kid, I put my baby tooth under my pillow. I thought the tooth fairy would give me tons of money. The next morning, I checked under my pillow and the tooth was still there! Then I realized that I didn't tell anyone what I was doing, so of course the parents didn't have the chance to play their part.
Liz Dwyer said…
Noel,
That's so sad! Does that mean that you knew at an early age that the Tooth Fairy was a fraud?
Jessalyn said…
We made the mistake of paying $2 for the first tooth. Then I realized how much that would add up to with three children for each tooth, so I played it up that I wasn't sure about the tooth fairy's pricing system, but she either paid that much because it was the first tooth, it weighed more than the others, and was shinier than the others. Since then she's been getting $1 a tooth.

My husband forgot to get the tooth one time, too. I snuck in her room under the guise of coming to give her a hug to go get it.
Liz Dwyer said…
Jessalyn,
I was SO tired that I was just like, "Whatever" when my husband said he couldn't find the tooth! That's so not like me but I could only think about going to sleep. And then my son got up at the crack of dawn...oh well. I've tried to explain that fairies are fickle creatures, sometimes they take the tooth, sometimes they don't!
Arianna said…
I got a dollar in the 80s, and I'd still give a dollar today. The best part? I wholeheartedly believed that the T.F. took teeth and used them to build castles in Tooth Fairyland, a prospect I wasn't thrilled by. So I carefully wrote her a letter asking if she wouldn't mind leaving my tooth AND the money behind. I sure pulled the wool over HER eyes. :)
Liz Dwyer said…
Arianna,
I wonder how much that dollar in the '80s would be in today's money, adjusted for inflation. :)

Did the Tooth Fair leave the tooth in response to your letter?

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