Monday, January 16, 2006

Necessary Losses

We have experienced the first lost tooth in our household. Interestingly enough, it was my six year old daugther, not my eight year old son whose tooth was lost. He's taking it pretty well. I had feared it might be worse--with him EVERYTHING is a competition and it has been a source of great consternation to him that all his friends have lost teeth while he has not. The dentist assured us that, according to the x-rays, all is well: there is a wide range of "normal" in this and my son just happens to be at the older end of normal. He does have a tooth that is loose, so it won't be much longer for him.

I have a feeling this could be the shape of things to come. The kids are just two years and three weeks apart. Girls mature faster than boys, and girls on my side of the family tend to hit puberty early. I can very easily imagine a scenario in which little sister is taller than big brother for a year or so. I guess we will cross that bridge when/if we get there. My husband's sisters hit puberty at the late end of normal, so maybe she has those genes instead.

BTW, what's the going rate for Tooth Fairy deliveries these days?? When I was a kid, I got a quarter in most cases, a bit more if my grandparents happened to be visiting. However my kids are reporting that some of their peers receive five dollar bills. Now, I know inflation is rampant. I could believe that the TF's going rate could have quadrupled since my young years--but $5???
Are there regional variations? Premiums for first lost teeth and molars?? Please advise.

8 comments:

Jules said...

I think our kids got a quarter at first, raised to a buck later on, once they hit school and there was some peer pressure to deal with. But $5 sounds a pricey for my wallet!

(My 15 yo still only gets $10 allowance. To her friends, that is scandalously low. Poor thing...)

We're cheap.

Unknown said...

No child of mine ever got more than $1, usually in quarters. This was based on #1 Son's love of the video game machines at the movie theatre!! He needed those quarters and saved them up for the next trip.
His younger siblings did not benefit from inflation.

Teri said...

wow, my parents were cheaper than I thought. I definitely got a few teeth worth a dime each, and a quarter for the back teeth or if it had been a particularly painful loss (ie if i'd played with the loose tooth and pulled it out myself--ow!).

Will you save the baby teeth? Going through my mom's jewelry box after she died I found a little bag with all my teeth and one with all my brother's. weird. I asked my dad to toss them but he refused. double weird! Is there some parental thing I don't get about this?

Jane Ellen+ said...

The going rate at our house is/was $1. When the oldest (now 18) started, it used to be delivered in silver dollars; but keeping them on hand and getting to the bank for them has been harder in recent years, so the tooth fairy has moved to paper money.

Anonymous said...

Good to know this is a transatlantic problem. I have the next stage of it as my 14 year old has just had 2 adult teeth out on the instructions of his orthodontist - he's keeping them while we haggle. I suspect a trip to his favourite music shop will settle it, and we'd probably have done that anyway.

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

One dollar here....and I especially liked it when she left one of the fancy coin dollars or 2 fifty cent pieces.

Becky Ardell Downs said...

okay, we're in the $5 camp. it was a big mistake, but we started this way and we're sort of stuck with it, at least for 10-yr old daughter. 2-yr old son will be getting $1/tooth, provided big sis never spills the beans.

Girl said...

My teeth took FOREVER to come out...I still had baby teeth at the end of my freshman year of high-school and ended up having them pulled so that I could get my braces on. Of course, the new teeth didn't come in until I was a senior! So I had braces that entire time!

Anyway...you could tell your son that his teeth are slower because they are stronger and holding on longer.