Tuesday 3 April 2012

The Tooth Fairy By Claire

Most of us know the story of the Tooth Fairy; The Tooth Fairy comes to a child who has lost a tooth...the tooth is wrapped in tissue and placed under the child's pillow, then during the night the tooth fairy comes, takes the tooth and leaves a piece of ‘silver’ in its place.
However, is the whole Tooth Fairy thing gone a little over the top?
The piece of ‘silver’ is no longer sufficient payment for a tooth, now it seems ‘paper’ money is more popular!! Why is that?; Does the Tooth Fairy have a basic knowledge of economics, for example inflation?
In the 1970’s, the common payment for a tooth was between 10p to 50p. In the 1980's between 50p and £1.00. In the 1990’s it increased to £1.00. The amount steadily, increasing through the naughties (2000’s), to the present day amount of €5.00/£5.00;an astronomical increase of 500%. During the mid-2000s, we see the introduction of ‘paper’ monetary payment for a tooth, becoming more and more commonplace.
So, has the tooth fairy has taken inflation into account in appraising the value of a tooth over the years? If so, it should be pointed out that we are in the middle of a recession and thus deflationary measures should really kick in now.
Or, perhaps the increase is not due to economics at all; perhaps it is something much more simplistic like old age. Is the Tooth Fairy, getting older and paper money is easier to carry? (I can’t imagine it being too easy carrying those big coins around when you are so small and may have many children to visit in a night and therefore have many heavy coins to carry)!!!!!!
Perhaps the increase is due to neither of the above, but to the inherent value of the commodity i.e. the actual condition of the teeth. Nowadays, with improvements in the care of teeth, better toothpaste etc, teeth are in much better condition, therefore, their value increases.
Either way, in my research I have ‘interviewed’ a number of children and parents, I am lead to believe that the current value of a tooth is approximately €5.00!
Sometimes, I wonder if Tooth Fairy and children are in cahoots!
Written with little prying eyes in mind!!
Maybe I have too much time on my hands, but sometimes it is easier to ponder these things than to watch the news!
Tooth Fairy Picture By: My (toothless) 7 year old.

2 comments:

John@PNG said...

Brilliant!You really do have too much time on your hands though.

Unknown said...

Firstly, I love your maths ability in this. Secondly maybe if the paper £1.00 came back, we would all be on to a winner of the need for 'paper money' but at a price us parents like. xx