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The Tooth Fairy's feeling the recession too
Faye Henn, 7, with dad Steve Henn.
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Tess Vigeland: And now a bulletin for every parent of small children. Deflation has been a lingering concern in our economy. And it's starting to show up under your child's pillow.
Jason Alderman: We surveyed a thousand parents nationwide and found that the Tooth Fairy is leaving their children less this year.
That is Jason Alderman, director of financial education for VISA, which conducts this annual survey (PDF). The lingering economic downturn has apparently spared no one.
Alderman: $2.60 is the national average, that's down 40 cents from three dollars in 2010.
Wait -- kids are getting more than a quarter for their teeth? When did this happen? Well we conducted a somewhat unscientific poll of our own to find out what the kids think is going on here. Our sample size was two, so the margin of error is fairly slim.
Ella Henn is nine and the eldest daughter of our technology correspondent Steve Henn. Her insights?
Ella Henn: Tooth Fairy just thinks that the kids are getting too spoiled and they don't need three dollars for just a tiny tooth.
Her sister Faye is seven.
Faye Henn: I think the Tooth Fairy might be running out of money, 'cause she always gives kids money and then she might run out of it. Yeah.
Let's hope not, 'cause Faye's still got some tooth money coming to her.
My son, at the tooth-losing age, tells me one day, "I can prove there is no tooth party."
" Oh, how is that?"
"I found my tooth in Mama's jewelry box!"
Rather than reprimanding him for going into his mother's stuff, I pointed out, "That doesn't mean there is no Tooth Fairy. Sometimes, when mothers ask nicely, the Tooth Fairy give the tooth to the mothers."
I got the juvenile equivalent of an eye roll.
But my son grew up to be a leading college debater. Maybe it started with the Tooth Fairy.
When the Tooth Fairy visited me, in the late 1950's,
10 cents was appropriate. But my baby teeth were very strong; several had to pulled by the dentist. In my late teens the dentist puled one upper canine, but told me to make another appointment for the other, but I never did. So now I have a perfectly healthy 63 year old baby tooth.
