How Much Should the Tooth Fairy Leave for Kids?

How much does the tooth fairy leave under your child’s pillow? How much did she leave for you? Where I once got a quarter, my children get $20 per tooth. Who knew? Actually my wife did, but by the time she told me the tooth fairy had already come.

That’s nothing, some children I’m told get as much as $50. For that much , if I were a kid, I’d be grabbing the pliers. The national average is now $3.70 per tooth. up 23 percent in a single year and 42 percent in just two years, according to a study by credit-card company Visa. Is the tooth fairy now using a credit card?

For a full set of 20 baby teeth, at the going rate, that works out to $74! That’s a lot of Legos!

The Tooth Fairy can also provide a teaching moment as we see in this letter she left behind at one house.

Lesson being, “always keep your room clean because you never know when someone will come in and leave money under your pillow.” Back in my day it was “Always keep your room clean or I’m going to knock all your teeth out!” And at a quarter a tooth, it wasn’t a good business decision. I must admit, if it were $50 a tooth when I was a kid, I would have considered it.

How much does the tooth fairy leave at your house? How much did she leave you?