Nov 09 2007
The Sweet Tooth Fairy and Pocket Money
I need some advice, please.
- What amount of money does the tooth fairy usually leave at your house? It’s been a while since I had a child this age and nobody wants the stingy tooth fairy visiting their house!
- At what age do kids generally get pocket money, and what is an age appropriate amount? My children are 4, 5, 14 and 16. I guess I’m more concerned with what’s a good amount for the teenagers.
Speaking of teeth my (5 y.o) daughter came up with a cute comment the other day – I made a pic for you (yes I know, I’m no graphic artist)!
Don’t you love how kids take things so literally 
16 Responses to “The Sweet Tooth Fairy and Pocket Money”
ROFL – that’s adorable
Now, to answer your questions (as best I can)
1. The tooth fairy has yet to visit this house, but I believe the going rate is $1 for a normal tooth, and $2 for a molar. Some even tell $5 for the last one. Depending on the age I might encourage her to leave a bit less, although I do pay my 3 and 4 year olds $1 a week to pack my Tuppeware orders for me 😉
2. Pocket money for teenagers depends on a lot of things: do they have jobs outside the home? if not is it becuase of study/sport? What do you expect them to cover with their pocket money? Are they expected to buy clothes, cover entertainment, magazines, mobile phone costs, birthday presents for siblings/family/christams? Get them involved with planning a budget for how much they need. And the expectations for it does and does not cover and what you expect them to do with it (ie save 20% etc).
I know that doesn’t give you a figure, but it might help you figure out how to arrive at one.
LOL..that’s really funny. Regarding the pocket money, I would ask them to ‘earn their pocket money’ some household chores or study
Meg, if you asked my 7 year old son – who is starting to look like an old toothless man, given that he’s lost both bottom teeth and now the top 2, he reckons the tooth fairy should leave him a Nintendo Wii. I don’t get involved with decisions of such greatness in our house – but my wife tells me the tooth fairy leaves $2.
We give $2 for teeth (when I remember, I am such a terrible tooth fairy *blush*) But we have them both pulling teeth out on purpose, 3 in as many days once..trying to send me broke!
I’d love to know about pocket money too. I have seen them somewhere, and can’t find them again. A money box that has a save, spend and give section, I love that idea.
I have no idea re the teens. They seem to do less and you have to pay them much more.
lol @ finding her sweet tooth!
As for the tooth fairy, she leaves either a $1 or $2 for a tooth, depending what she has in her little purse!
We don’t give pocket money. We just give the kids money when they need some. Although sometimes it would probably work out cheaper for us if we DID give a set amount of pocket money. I read somewhere that you should give your babe money equivalent to their age eg:, 15 year old would get $15.
What, you’re not just giving them your credit card and letting them spend what they want?
You know, I have absolutely no idea. I guess their budget depends on your budget. But I would probably be thinking about what they need it for. Maybe I’m dreaming because I’m not faced with this yet, but I would probably just give them an “entertainment” allowance to cover the costs of going to the movies or eating out with their friends or whatever they do, and make entertainment their responsibility with maybe a little extra that they can (learn to) save. I would probably also have a separate “clothing allowance”, putting the onus on them to manage what they need along with what they want. Beyond that, it’s presents or get a job. I’m a fan of the teenage job. I loved mine.
Kin
Thanks for that solid advice. I remember when I was at school a couple of my friends had a monthly or quarterly budget that had to cover clothes, entertainment, tuckshop etc. It seemed extremely generous but they were always broke and taking out an advance! I don’t know if it taught them a good lesson or not, but perhaps sped up the decision to get a job…. Food for thought, thanks.
Thiru
Increasing the chores sounds like a plan 😀
Hi Simon
Nintendo wii – LOL
Leigh
That split money box sound good in theory. You’re right about them doing less – might have to prod them with Thiru’s suggestion
Mummifiedx5
That’s pretty much the way it’s been here, but mr 16 is getting a lot more “social” and with the holidays coming, though it’d be good if he has some kind of regular allowance to rely on. Ms 14 is also getting a lot more interested in clothes (and movies etc).
Cerebralmum
LOL! Feels like that sometimes.
I think I tend to agree with having a split budget. I think that maybe an all inclusive one might just be a little too much responsibility on young shoulders. Both are about to go looking for part time jobs (son really wants the latest gaming console).
In my house, we got $1 for every tooth we lost.
As for pocket money – we never got any. We started working at 14 years and 10 months (which is the earliest you can start in most places) and earned our own money. Of course before we got jobs our parents would give us money if we needed certain things, but we never got money every week (and yes, we still did chores around the house).
I guess things change because most teens these days get pocket money (and some of it is a crazy amount like $50 a week!!)
Hi Katie
Miss 14 has just become old enough – she’s been extremely motivated to get a job. Son is resigning himself to the fact that his wants exceed his current (non existent) income. He mentioned one of his friends gets $50 seems a too generous to me as well!
We make our kids scrub the floor, make the beds and wash the dishes for starters. Yeah Dream On. We give our kids $5, but it can be reduced for uncooperative behaviour. We are cheap in the tooth fairy department and give 50cents. Our kids haven’t complained.
Haven’t read the other comments (Boo is making my life HELL right now so quickly breezing in) but this is what happens in our house:
Tooth fairy: 5 dollars for the first tooth, and 2 for each subsequent tooth (yes, worded like that. My kids are uber geeks and made me write out an official document for the tooth fairy) unless the tooth is taken out by a dentist and then it is up for negotiation. Monetary gain is equal to amount of pain and suffering.
Pocket money: We did the whole money for jobs thing and it never worked. Moo would do nothing and Too would do her jobs for extra cash and then Moo would lose it cause she never had any money.
So now everyone has things they have to do to be part of the family and we all get mad money. Not linked to chores. It has worked a treat!
The girls are 14 & 16 and they get $20 per fortnight. But I pay for their phone credit (they go to school far away and take public transport, I allow $10 per month)
Boo is 9 and probably at the functioning level of a 3 year old, so I just buy him treats every now and then. But he still has to help out around the house.
Oh and lurve the artwork 😉 and so adorable what your daughter said!!
It’s adorable how kids take things so literally, positively lights up my day.
I’ve just started visiting your blog a few days ago, and thought I’d leave a comment. Having grown up without the tooth fairy, I wouldn’t know but I recall my cousins receive $2 per tooth, though I’m not clear on molars.
I think allowances depend, obviously, on how much you can afford to spare your teens and like some have mentioned, how you expect they will spend it. Kin’s advice was really good. I used to get $20 a week, with phone credit, clothes and sometimes other stuff covered by my parents. And they gave me some extra cash (amount depending on mood + parent) when I went to the movies, etc. Maybe you could do something like that the first few weeks, just as they saved up. It’d help, especially if they didn’t have part-time jobs. Also, maybe you could have an agreement. E.g., a 10% increase per week for everytime they .. did well for the term/were extra helpful around the house etc. Or just an occasional “bonus” whenever they’ve been good/smart with their money etc. Just some suggestions
Hey Kelley
I love the tooth fairy contract – LOL!
Miss 14 would be like “too”, snapping up all the available jobs. They do have a few chores – dishwasher, garbage etc but, contrary to teenage opinion, it probably wouldn’t kill them to do a few more 😉 Thanks.
Hi D
It does seem like $2 is popular consensus for the Tooth Fairy. Thanks for your pocket money suggestions. It’s good to get feedback from someone who has recently had pocket money (I’m waiting for my kids to anonymously jump in here with some crazy weekly figure)!
Their grandparents tend to be the “bonus” givers – for good reports, holidays etc which usually gives them that bit extra, but I like your idea of rewarding good “behaviour”.
Thanks for taking the time to leave your comment. I hope you find something in this eclectic mess that interests you!
My tooth fairy was really random. A different amount every time. Whatever change I had in my purse. Kept it interesting for them.
I gave my kids an allowance and they had to budget everything they wanted. They were thrilled when they started getting $10 a week. I was thrilled when they asked for stuff and I could simply say, you’ve got your allowance – spend it. They rarely did!!
As far as chores went, they helped with everything since they were able to. They loved helping and they are pretty independent. As they got older though, their cleanliness standards dropped as other outside interests increased. Poor time management by all of us mostly!
I’ve been asked about the tooth fairy and I told my son that the tooth fairy never visited me (true story). The jury’s out on this one but I’ll probably give in and give him $1 per tooth.
As for pocket money, I agree about working for it.
Hi Joh
It’s a shame that willingness to be helpful wears off. The two little ones love it when I say “can you please help mummy”? With the older ones (phrased a little differently), I usually get the heavy sigh or eye roll!
Jen – it’s nice that you’ll do it for him, even though it wasn’t part of your childhood