I jsut read an article saying parents now give kids 20 bucks a tooth! I think i got a quarter? I was thinking my kid would get a dollar. Am i the only one who thinks its crazy?
What do you give your kids?

my kids get a dollar. once my dd got $2 because the tooth fairy was too busy to get to her on the first night. Read: mom forgot.

I think I used to get 100 Belgian Francs which would be the equivalent of about 4/5 dollars. Belgian Francs don't exist anymore obviously but they did when I was little!

5 bucks. Only because mine swallowed his first big tooth and was mortified the tooth fairy wasn't going to give him anything.

Indulge them the first few times! Eventually they learn it doesn't exist and no longer get excited. But 20 buck? No. 5 is plenty big.

I should say, no longer gets AS excited. Mine still wants the dough so will play along, lol!

Sim $20 is nuts IMHO. E. has the right idea (also my opinion). Give the child enough for a treat if they are allowed or better yet teach them to save for something they really want. ~Red

$20??????????
Where I come from there isn't even a tooth fairy to begin with
Sooooo, any $ to me is already ridiculous.

Sorry, I LOVE the US and I chose this to be my country and I UNDERSTAND it is part of the culture,
but giving $ for this or for that.....or gifts, to me is a bit much. If it isn't tooth fairy is the over exaggerated Christmas gifts, etc etc etc

Ok, done ranting

I think a dollar or a couple is OK.

$20 is absolutely crazy! My kids will get $1. Take it or leave it!

20 bucks is just crazy. Mine got a couple of dollars at the most!

simgirl, I think whoever wrote the article you read, must have been writing it from an extremely biased point of view. That's not the average. $20 is an extreme price.

We haven't dealt with it yet... DD is having classmates who've lost teeth, but she hasn't yet. We did purchase a special limited edition "toothfairy quarter" to give DD for her 1st tooth lost. (see it here: Tooth Fairy Coin )

But after that, we will settle on a fixed amount per tooth. Probably $1 per tooth, unless we're teaching her how to divide her earnings to save, give and spend... Then it will be a little more.

Keep in mind, consistency is key. I remember as a child, I got $1 per tooth. But when I was 7, I had a bunch of adult teeth coming in but the childhood teeth hadn't budged. The dentist had to pull 6 to make room. I was good at math, and eagerly awaited $6 for all the horror of having 6 teeth pulled without freezing or laughing gas. I was still awake when my mom snuck in, and put a piece of tissue under my pillow containing a few quarters, dimes and pennies. So, the whole toothfairy thing got ruined for me, and I felt totally ripped off. Especially since I had to feel the pain of the teeth pulling on top of it all. LOL.

So, whatever you give your child per tooth - make sure you can afford it if you multiply it per tooth. LOL.

Braziliangirl - you may be interested in a book I have. It's a children's book about toothfairy customs around the world... it's called "Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World" - written by Selby B Beeler.

Link to Children's Tooth Book

It's explains the things that children do with their teeth in several countries of the world, and it's so neat. DD's kindergarten class loved reading it after one of their classmates lost his first tooth.

Thanks DaynaM, I can appreciate the thought

I still think there are other ways to teach about money, but hey, I am not there yet, who is to say when is Lucas's turn I wont be handing him a $20??? LOL