Santa Claus is a regular in any house with wee ones.
He might come down the chimney but once a year, but he is talked about often with gentle words of encouragement to be good…“if you’re a good boy all year then Santa might bring you that train track you really want…”
Or the not so gentle: “If you don’t tidy that room right now, Santa will leave a wet fish and a bag of coal.”
But there’s another magical person I’d forgotten all about until recently. The Tooth Fairy.
And when I say recently, I mean when my eldest announced his tooth had fallen out that day at school but not to worry because it was safely wrapped in tissue in his pencil case and he’d put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy.
It took me back to one morning, when I was around Monty’s age.
I woke my mum sobbing because my tooth was still under the pillow and the Tooth Fairy hadn’t left a penny.
I remember the slightly panicked look in her face.
Then her asking me to do something – some chore or other – while she scurried off.
When she reappeared, she wore a big smile and said she had heard the Tooth Fairy had had a very busy night – sometimes she didn’t pick up the last pearly white on her list until 7am.
And there, under my pillow, was a crisp £10 note (a fortune in the eighties and nothing to do with there being no coins around) and I felt like bursting with joy and relief.
Of course, subsequent, less last minute payments fell short of this initial windfall.
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Now the Tooth Fairy is once more in my life and I realised I had no idea what the going rate was, but £2 sounded about right and, funnily enough, that’s what she left and Monty was delighted.
An ask around parents, however, would indicate the Tooth Fairy’s going rates are a little erratic – ranging from 50p to a fiver – and I’ve heard tales of a tenner a tooth.
A tenner a tooth? At that rate the kids will be paying for the next family holiday.
One child I heard of got a present in exchange for their tooth and another, a glittery letter of praise for regular tooth brushing – a sweet touch I grant you.
I knew to expect parental pressure in keeping up with brands of trainers, the latest computer games and football kits.
But if anyone bumps into the Tooth Fairy, could you ask her to stabilise her market rates – on the lower end – please?
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