Did you know your child loses 20 baby teeth over about six years? Or that the tooth fairy collects over 300,000 teeth every night? Or even did you know that the tooth fairy started as a small rat?
Cultures from all over the world have their histories and traditions when it comes to kids and their teeth. Some parents just take it, chuck it, and leave a few bucks for their kid to find. In Egypt, kids toss their fallen teeth into the air with the hopes the sun will give back a different tooth and a healthy smile. In other Asian countries, they toss or bury the teeth. Sometimes the tooth fairy takes the form of a mouse or bunny.
But the form most common, that gets movies made about it and most kids recognise, is a tiny, winged woman who sneaks in at night, takes the tooth, usually left under the pillow, and leaves money. What she does with the tooth is anyone’s guess.
One Dad Gets Creative
A Printer, Some Glitter, Glue and Creativity Is All You Need
Chris Solodad shared how he’s creating new memories and traditions with his kids when the first tooth was lost.
In the video, he prints small envelopes and letters that he cuts out and glues together. Then he takes a $20 note, runs it through a hair straightener to flatten it, sprays it with glue, sprinkles it with glitter, adds a few drops of peppermint. This seems like an odd choice to me and one I associate more with Christmas. But maybe he chose it because some toothpaste is minty.
Lastly, he rolls the money and slides it into the pocket of a tooth pillow with the envelope, sneaks into his daughter’s room and pulls the tooth from under the sleepy child’s pillow, and replaces it with his pillow project, leaving it for them to find in the morning.
What’s The Going Rate For A Tooth These Days?
When I was a kid, I was lucky to get $2 for a lost tooth. With my own kids, I started with a $2 coin and worked up to $5 as they got older and learned the value of money. Sometimes, if me, or my partner at the time, ran out of time, or forgot, I’d scramble around at three am searching the house for change. If I left my ex in charge, they’d end up with ten bucks in loose change and make me count it for an hour.
Luckily, I’m not like the dad who got drunk and gave his kid $100 for his tooth (check it out – it’s hilarious to watch!). Or went as over the top as Teen Mom alum, Farrah, made headlines when she gave her then six-year-old daughter, Sofia, $600 ($890 AUD) when she lost her two front teeth.
The average rate for a tooth in the US is about $5 ($7.80 AUD) per tooth and it’s still between $2 and $5 here in Oz.
A lot of parents in the video’s comments said between $2 and $5 or whatever they had in their wallet was the going rate in their house.
What If You Forget?
I did this once. Well, technically my ex did, but I had to fix it. I put him in charge because I was exhausted after parenting solo all day and wanted to go to bed early. If history had taught me anything, it’s I should have handled it myself. Because he forgot. I woke up to an angry and devastated little kid who wanted to know why the tooth fairy forgot about him.
What do you tell a miniature version of you that the one thing they were relying on, didn’t happen. If you need to – our list of tooth fairy excuses might get you out of hot water!
When I tell you I scrambled for something to say, I wasn’t lying. Thankfully I’d already taken the tooth, however, I just relied on the wrong person to put the money in there. I went with sending them out to look in my ex’s car while I scoured my purse for some cash and hid it under something on their floor. When they came back in I suggested we clean their room and see if it was there. It took two minutes for them to find it and I absolutely used the moment as a teachable one about keeping their room tidy – with zero guilt. #winning
Is This Tradition A Good One Or Is This Dad Creating A Rod For His Back?
Traditions are so much fun. I have my own Christmas tradition, but when you do the maths this tooth fairy tradition adds up. At $20 per tooth (and you know once you set a standard with a kid, they’ll keep reminding you of it) adds up to $400, and that’s just for one kid. Chris Solodad has three under five.
That’s a lot of cutting and pasting, glitter, and cash. Who’s got the time (or money) and what about if they get siblings?!
I think it’s a cute tradition to start with a kid and if I had thought of it when my kids first started losing their teeth, I totally would have done this. But maybe not with a $20. And probably without the glitter, it gets everywhere!
Our kids have a sense of whimsy for only so long before the pressures of school, social media and life get to them. I say, create as much magic as possible without putting yourself in debt. Make the tooth fairy magical. Create Christmas memories to last a lifetime. Give them something to cherish and pass on to their kids, if they have them.
