Monday, March 19, 2012

not the best way to make money, an odd myth none the less.

Tooth fairy.

So I’ve been seeing a lot of post from parents on my facebook about their kids loosing teeth and calling on the tooth fairy. Oh tooth fairy, I once believed in you in my simple youth. My mom seriously would leave quarters and it wasn’t until I found all my baby teeth in a lil box when I was like 10 that I was like OMG!...yea I was pretty naive. Oh well... in retrospect a fairy that comes and visits when youre sleeping sounds pretty frightening now. creepy. no wonders tons of scary movies have been made with a tooth fairy as the scary ass protagonist. in any case where did this mysterious lil pixie come from?

In early Europe, it was a tradition to bury baby teeth that fell out. When a child's sixth tooth falls out, it is a custom for parents to slip a gift or money from the tooth fairy under the child's pillow, but to leave the tooth as a reward. Some parents also leave trails of glitter on the floor, representing fairy dust.
In a lot of Latin American countries, instead of a fairy there is a mouse, or ratoncito perez that comes and leaves a gift for the teeth. And even better in some parts of Ireland there is a fairy mouse, totally the best of both worlds. Most people believe that a mouse is used to represent bringing in new teeth because a mouse has permanent teeth for life and if he brings you your new teeth, chances are they are for life. Clearly he failed me because I’ve had 3 root canals... that’s what I get for believing in the tooth fairy and not a lil mouse.

The reward left varies by country, the family's economic status, amounts the child's peers report receiving and other factors. A 2011 study found that American children receive $2.60 per tooth on average. Those are some rich kids. I only got a 50 cent piece. I thought I was fancy!

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