Sink your teeth into this…
Despite news of the credit crunch and talk of a global recession, it seems there is only one business that is fairy-ing well.
That’s right, the Tooth Fairy is proving to be one of the most successful business women of this year, and may even find herself in 2009’s Times’ Rich List.
According to a survey, the generous little fairy, who once used to slip six pence pieces under the pillows of sleeping children who’d lost their milk teeth, now has a business worth millions of pounds. Definitely something Peter Jones wishes he’d invested in…
While parents roughly received 27p per tooth, their children are waking up to find an average of £1.05p waiting for them, according to savings experts, The Children’s Mutual. That’s more than a 500 per cent rise over 25 years.
It’s been calculated that youngsters today can profit from a total of £21 from their wobbly teeth – over 6 times what their parents would have got for theirs. For roughly one in twelve youngsters, losing 20 baby teeth between the ages of six and 11 could earn them more than £40.
And is it any wonder the averages are so high, when it’s reported that Wondermum and superior-being Angelina Jolie gives adopted son Maddox $50 for every tooth he loses, letting him spend the extremely generous payout on whatever he wants?
There is a silver-lining to this somewhat gappy tale however: children are being taught about how to look after their finances. The study found that seven in ten children talk about money and savings with their parents, 73 per cent have a piggy bank and 44 per cent of seven-year-olds play shopping games at home.
Although maybe not learning the true value of money, or about inflation rates, kids these days do seem to understand more about money matters. Only the other day did I witness a little girl, too small to reach the counter, trying to make a deposit into her Barclay’s account. She was probably saving the pound she’d received in exchange for a decaying little incisor…
As for Maddox Pitt/Jolie, it’s all very well giving the kid a fifty dollar bill for every tooth that “falls out”, but when he and his sisters start pulling all their little toothy-pegs out with pliers, I’m sure Angie will regret her “charitable” decision to give every child the same.
She’ll also be regretting not putting the money towards the dental treatment they’ll all need later on in life.
“Five for silver, and six for gold,” I wonder how magpies are getting on…
