The recession hasn’t just hit people. Talk to the tooth fairy and you’ll find out that lately, when she collects a tooth, she’s leaving on average $1.88 to be retrieved the next morning. That's down from $2.09 last year, CBS News reports.

She’s been feeling a bit glum about leaving less cash, but until the economy picks up, there’s not much more she can do. However, she offers this advice to those looking to generate excitement after her visits: “Think beyond money.”

In our house, the tooth fairy usually leaves a note with a beautiful image of herself, and some words of advice or musings on what’s happening in her life. I remember one morning my son was disappointed to discover that the tooth fairy hadn’t left anything at all under his pillow. But the following morning to his delight, he found that she had not only left money but also a note that explained that she had gotten disoriented in our house and left the money in the wrong place the previous night. So apparently, despite all the flying she does on the job, the tooth fairy is directionally challenged.

One night a few years ago, my son wrote her a letter. He had had his tooth pulled and wanted to know if he could keep the tooth and still collect. He was a bit nervous about the request. She wrote back, “I am so proud of you for having the courage to have your tooth pulled out. Of course you may keep ‘Brave tooth!’ You will see I have left some money for you under your pillow because you have been so good. Keep on brushing and being a good boy! I know I will be back soon because you have another shaky one! Sweet dreams!”

As my son came to know the tooth fairy, he became emboldened to ask her even more questions. One year her response went like this: “What a lot of questions. Of course God is my friend and I love everyone. I don’t live in heaven. I live in a fairyland, but I do visit quite often to give the teeth I collect to babies waiting to be born. Thanks for your tooth. I’ll be back soon to get your other loose ones. TF”

Sometimes, his questions turned more scientific and less philosophical: “What is the stuff left in the little hole in my tooth?” he asked her. Besides answering that question, the tooth fairy turned out to be a font of interesting facts about teeth, outlining their emergence and number, from age three to adulthood. But even in that letter, she put a personal touch on the ending as she answered his final question about her finances: “I’m having fun in fairyland. I don’t have money because I don’t need it. I have love and am magical,” she said.

We’ve discovered there’s much more to the tooth fairy than money, which is especially good given the economy today. Her letters are priceless. Every letter she has ever written my son he has kept, including the handmade book mark that encouraged him to keep reading.

Theirs was a special relationship. (He recently told me that he plans to keep writing her, even though he now knows her true identify.) I’m sure she’ll reply.

For more parenting blogs from Triangle-area moms and dads, visit www.CarolinaParent.com.