Carlos Whittaker

Jul11

Korean Tooth Fairy, Inflation, & Nashville

Posted by loswhit in Culture,Family

“Hey Losiah. In Korea, when a child loses a tooth, they throw it on top of the house so that the new tooth chases the old tooth and grows upwards. A little bird comes and takes it and brings good luck. Would you like to throw your tooth on the roof?”

With zero pause whatsoever…

“No daddy.”
“Why son? It sounds like fun!”
“Cause we live in Nashville daddy.”

I mean you can’t say I’m not trying to make sure he’s still got the Seoul in his Soul.

So I wake up this morning with Losiah in his obligatory position.
One skinny leg draped across my torso and an arm draped across my pie hole.
Only this morning I felt him rubbing a piece of paper across my face.

“Dude. Stop it. Daddy’s still sleeping”

“I know daddy. But the tooth fairy brought me 10 dollars. TEN DOLLARS!”
The tone of his voice was also saying one more thing…
God Bless America

What’s a tooth go for in your town?
How bout when you were growing up?
Los

Doug

.25……. then and now.

http://matrixlajon.wordpress.com/ Matrix Lajon

I thought that was like the Euro of the tooth world, 25 cents.

http://www.twitter.com/aliciamc AliciaMc

Holy Batman, ten bucks?! I was lucky if I got a quarter! (And I’m only 26 so it’s not as if that was a huge amount then either…)
airlantiss

I got change as a kid and my kids get $1 a tooth unless they loose two at once. Then they get a bonus!!!! lol Careful with three kids still in tooth losing age the tooth fairy at your house is in danger of spending a small fortune in teeth….lol
http://brendasbrainchild.blogspot.com Brenda

I never got money for losing my teeth. I kept them all in a Chuck E. Cheese bank. It’s actually probably still somewhere in my parents’ basement.
haems

wait, that korean tooth fairy story is real? i never heard that growing up! but then again, i grew up in New Jersey
http://andrewgergen.com Andrew Gergen

I got 50 cents. My brother always got dollar bills…..
Kevin

Dude! You do realize that you’ve just raised the bar for all of us parents, don’t you? Also, have you thought about how much money this will cost you over the years?
Erin Petersen

My girls get $1 per tooth, $5 for a molar! And I keep the teeth….they’re 13 and 8 now, but both have known for a long time that I’m the tooth fairy.
Funny story…a couple of times I’ve forgotten to put the money down before they knew it was me and have totally blamed it on the fact the Tooth Fairy must’ve just been too busy that night to stop by!
http://taminprogress.com Tam

well, at 41, my teeth go for about 350-400. depending on the tooth and the dentist :/

congrats Losiah!!
Becca

We do $5 for the first tooth and then $1 coins for the rest of the teeth. My kids are 9 and 6 and this tooth fairy is going broke. In one week we had 6 visits from the tooth fairy. I think my son has lost more teeth than are in his mouth!
http://sprignaturemoves.com/blog wvpv

$0.25

My mom gave me all of my teeth back after I got married. That was a little creepy and gross.
Lisa

We used to get two dollar bills and I think I got more when I had to have a tooth pulled.

Also, if the new tooth is chasing the old tooth up to the roof then what happens if it’s a top tooth? Do you throw the tooth downstairs b/c you wouldn’t want your new tooth on the top to grow upward!?
Laura-Leigh

I got $2 one time. Being the smart kid that I was I started trying to pull my teeth out. I lost 4 in one week.

My parents didn’t pay me for any lost teeth after that.
http://Www.hackney4.blogspot.com Heidi

Kennedy half-dollar…then and now
Karla M

First tooth gets a special prize – stuffed animal or Matchbox car. After that – $1 a tooth. We did pay more for one that had to be extracted and caused a lot of pain. Growing up, we got a quarter.
http://joshisaloser.com Josh

DUDE! You better pray my kids never read this! lol. $1. MAX.
MJT

.05, yes FIVE CENTS
Jodi W

$10?!? Have you counted how many baby teeth are in your house right now? I think I got a quarter or maybe 50 cents. My kids get $1. They know it’s from me so they just tell me they lost a tooth and I hand them a buck, LOL. My younger one thinks under the pillow is still fun but usually we do the currency exchange during the daytime.

I started saving their teeth but then I got mixed up about which ones belonged to who and realized that I don’t want my own baby teeth so I’m pretty sure my kids won’t want theirs. That was a major decision for me, I like to keep everything. I no longer get startled when opening a drawer, finding old teeth laying in there.
B.Rad

I didn’t know our Tooth Fairy (my wife) covered your area. I got 25 cents.
Teresa

Yeah, I’m astounded by the inflation rate. I only got a $1 and intended to do the same for mine. But already a cousin has received $5 for her tooth… so as my son’s continues to loosen, I’m sure he will be expecting the same! UGH!

Never heard of the other tradition, but I have heard of giving a gift…like toothbrush, or something like that.
Tommy

I got 2 $20 bills when I had two teeth extracted (late 80s), however, I usually got $1.
http://Www.cherryunleashed.com Justin Cherry

We are Americans living in New Zealand. Here $1 is a coin and they start with $5 notes. So we sometimes would give five but usually a $2 coin. But then this one kids kept bragging to my daughter that he gets $5 every time. I had a choice, either tell the kid there is no tooth fairy, squash his dreams, but in the end he still gets the $5. So, the next time my daughter lost a tooth I gave her $10. Yeah, that’s right, take that kid!

In my day I got a buck!
http://mimiandbutterbean.blogspot.com Shayne

Losiah is growing up so fast. What happened to the little pudgy baby hands and cheeks?
http://www.parenthoodexperiment.blogspot.com Auntie J

My kids get $2 for tooth #1 (’cause it’s special), and then $1 for each tooth.

Me, I got .50 for the first tooth…and .25 apiece for the rest.
http://mattlewis.typepad.com/blog/ M@ Lewis

In a moment of pure parent wisdom, we asked our daughter what the tooth fairy brings for teeth. She said “coins!”. We said great!!!!! She said “and a gift”. We said “well I think the gift is just for the first tooth.” She gets around $1 worth of coins for each tooth and her gift was a fancy spinning, light up tooth brush.