Just What Does the Tooth Fairy Pay in your Family?

The Tooth Fairy is a well-known addition to many homes with children, however, many parents find themselves engaging in discussions with close friends over the going price of a displaced baby tooth. For moms and dads, many remember being delighted over receiving a quarter per tooth, nevertheless it seems even the Tooth Fairy isn’t immune to inflation.

History of the Tooth Fairy

The legend of the Tooth Fairy started out in Europe as a superstition to prevent witches from cursing young children. The story goes that mothers and fathers would bury their children’s baby teeth and that would help a whole new tooth grow in its place. This ritual advanced over time as people migrated to the USA and as land became increasingly more scarce.

They no longer had space to bury their child's teeth and eventually the habit became what it is in modern society. Children today hide their own teeth beneath a pillow and a mythical being comes in sometime in the night to take the tooth and change it with money.

The Price of Teeth According to the Tooth Fairy

Throughout time, the going rate for a baby tooth has actually kept up with rising cost of living. Reported by a survey created by Visa, the Tooth Fairy continues to be paying considerably less in 2011 than it did in 2010. In 2010, the normal pay out for a tooth ended up being $3.00 and in 2011 the Tooth Fairy has been giving the average of just $2.60 per tooth.

It would appear that not even the infamous trader of incisors is safe from the recession. Perhaps she or he had a variety of assets in the stock market that didn’t perform wonderfully. Regardless of reason, kids this season aren't enjoying as high of a return on their own teeth as their more mature siblings did a year ago.

Then again, most youngsters haven’t even noticed the gap, while some have become upset over the drop in returns or the total disappearance of money in exchange for their teeth.

Some other intriguing facts from the Visa Study include:

- The Eastern part of the country has the cheapest average payout at $2.10 (a 38% reduction from 2010), whilst the Midwest and the West return $2.80 for every tooth (competitively near to 2010).

- 10% of children receive no return on their teeth, and 18% receive $5 as compensation.

What You Can Do

The legend of the teeth snatching will continue to evolve today as the fair market value for a tooth changes. Parents of youngsters are the final decision makers of how much their children should receive with regard to sporting a new gapped-toothed grin. The fictional being has become a popular figure among children and parents alike for many years.

Irrespective of whether you would like to pay $5 for each tooth, not pay your children any amount at all, or exchange each tooth for two dollar bills, several quarters or possibly a dime is up to you, as a parent. Just realize that your actions effect the standing of the Tooth Fairy across the country.