Rockin’ the Kids’ Music World

A kid in my daughter’s class gets five bucks for every tooth…apparently, his tooth fairy comes from the other side of the fairy tracks (the rich side), because Isabel only gets $1 for the regular teeth and $2 for the front four.

Now, according to the National Institute of Health, kids have 20 teeth; so little Johnnie’s tooth fairy is going to drop $100 on teeth between now and the time he’s 14 - and he’s going to brag about every dollar. In the meantime, Isabel’s tooth fairy is making the conscious choice to NOT give her $5 per tooth.

I gave Isabel’s tooth fairy a call recently, to talk about this situation, and she (tooth fairies are woman, right? - I’m not trying to be sexist here, but I just can’t imagine a guy spending an extra five bucks on anything less than, say, a craftsmen wrench.) patiently explained that, in more than one way, it doesn’t pay to over-pay kids for their teeth.

She pointed out the fact that a six year old doesn’t really understand that money matters - they’ll have a long life to figure that out, so why start so early? Furthermore, she asked, what does a six year old need $5, $10, $15, etc. dollars for anyway? Granted, a “My Pretty Pony” is going for about $4.76 at Wal Mart, but if we teach our kids anything, shouldn’t it be the joy of waiting…saving up and finally being able to get something (remember my “Let Her In” post…) ? Wouldn’t it be better for her (the tooth fairy that is) to give Isabel $1 for each tooth, and invest $4 in a 529 college fund? That way, she (and Isabel) could take advantage of the wonders of compound interest…

Our tooth fairy had some excellent points. When I ask her what was up with little Johnnie’s tooth fairy, she said, “Tooth Faries these days have lost touch, know what I mean? They’ve forgotten that the wonder of childhood is about anticipation and imagination…once a kid gets the thing, it loses it’s magic.”

I couldn’t agree more.