Don't let your kids catch you reading this article! Real moms tell us about the Tooth Fairy traditions at their home.
Tooth Fairy traditions from real families
How much does she bring, does she bring more for certain teeth, does she bring money or a prize and what to do if she accidentally falls asleep watching Downton Abbey and forgets to put the money under the pillow .
World traveling tooth fairies
Melody Goeken says, “We have one son who is now 16. The tooth fairy always brought some sort of toy, such as a Batman action figure, and coins/money from other countries. The poor fairy travels all over the world and can't always get her currency right! The morning after we look at the money and see where it is from and go to the internet to see what they are worth and find some details about the country.”
She continues, “Luckily we have many friends who travel all over the world and they would bring us currency to stockpile for the next tooth. Our most unique is an Iraqi dinar!”
Barb Davis-Pyles, mom of two, calls her tooth fairy a “geography geek,” saying, “she always leaves coins from around the world for each lost tooth. That way, the next day we get to explore the location she has obviously flown in from — as in, ‘Oh wow! A kid from the Dominican Republic must have lost a tooth right before you did!’”
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Prices go up for pain, suffering and late tooth fairies
“The tooth fairy brings $5 for first tooth and $2 for each tooth afterwards. My oldest child fell out of a bunk bed on vacation one time and knocked out his two front teeth at age 5 — because it was so traumatic, the tooth fairy brought him a $20 bill for those two teeth,” says Nancy Whalen Eichler, mom of three kids ages 9, 8 and 5.
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She adds, “Please note: the tooth fairy is juggling so much these days that she seems to forget to come sometimes, so she can sometimes surprise us all by coming during the late morning.”
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Trinkets and toys
Life coach, author of The Peacemaker Parent, Solving Problems for Today, Teaching Independence for a Lifetime and mom of two teenage boys, Lorraine Esposito says, “Fiddle things are the perfect currency for buying a kid's tooth. The tooth fairy always surprised my boys with small action figures or Lego sets that could be played with while still in bed. You can find great things on sale all over so shop anticipating the unexpected tooth to fall out.”
She adds, “Just be sure you have a good hiding place... Oh, and be sure to remember where that great hiding place is. ”
If you stock up too much, Lorraine suggests giving the trinkets as prizes for “a job well done or to stuff a holiday stocking.”
Grandparent rates trump going rates
Eileen Zyko Wolter says her son lucked out when he lost his second tooth at his grandparent's house. “For my older son we decided the first tooth got $10 and the next ones $5 each. Of course he lost his second tooth while staying at his grandparent's who gave him $10!”
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