The survey also found that 10% of children actually received no money whereas, according to last year’s survey, only 6% got stiffed by the Tooth Fairy. This makes me wonder about the Tooth Fairy’s priorities because, one would think, Tooth Fairies could surely find someplace in the family budget to squeeze out another 40 cents per missing molar.

But even with a diminished payout, the Tooth Fairy continues to loom large, with 90% of American children under the age of 12 getting a visit from the nocturnal collector.

Turns out the whole survey was to encourage parents to use the Tooth Fairy's visit as an opportunity to have the "money conversation" with their children (as opposed to charging the Tooth Fairy’s visit to your Visa credit card). The survey points out that even simple steps like asking kids what they plan to do with the money and encouraging them to save for a long-term goal can help instill valuable money management lessons that can last a lifetime. Here’s where Visa and I part company. You want kids to save $2.60 for retirement? You want to take a fun, silly, harmless custom and turn it into a teaching opportunity? Please! Let kids have some childhood. Soon enough, they will be plunged into the realities of budgets and debt ceilings.

Now, my big question is: When the economy recovers, if ever, will the Tooth Fairy up the average amount per tooth? Does this mean that I was raised in an economic slump because I received less than the average amount? Will we someday be able to trade tooth futures on a commodity exchange?

These are some of the profound questions raised by the Tooth Fairy survey, so I applaud Visa for its survey despite my misgivings about its implication that we ought to suck the fun out of the Tooth Fairy fantasy by turning it into an opportunity to spoil the day for children by telling them that the $2.60 they just got for an ejected tooth is not for fun, it’s for their future.