Sunday, 31 July 2011
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How Do You Play "Tooth Fairy"?
It's inevitable that all children will lose their baby teeth. It's a sign of becoming a "big kid", a rite of passage. At summer camps and recess, children are often comparing what the Tooth Fairy left for them (I know I did when I was little!). Did she leave money? A note? A new toy?
As parents, it's our responsibility, if playing the role of the Tooth Fairy, to always be prepared. Just like the Girl or Boy Scouts, parents always have to be prepared. Part of this preparedness is knowing what you will do when your child starts to leave his or her baby teeth under their pillow. Will you sneak in while they sleep and carefully remove the tooth and leave behind money? If you leave behind money, how much will you leave? If it's the very first lost tooth, should you leave more then subsequent teeth?
No one ever said being the Tooth Fairy was easy!
We have yet to enter into this role. Our son is six and hasn't lost a baby tooth yet (and we've been assured this is fine), but I have started to think about it. When I was his age, I got a whopping twenty-five cents for a tooth. That's a quarter. That means it took me four teeth just to get a dollar! Back then, quarter machines at the grocery store were the coolest thing. You could get ANYTHING from them, and I would save my quarters for bouncy balls, temporary tattoos, candy, and jewelry. It was a gold mine when I cashed in. But now I'm seeing that the quarter machines these days need TWO quarters just to get anything good. So has the price of a tooth inflated with time? If I want my son to have the same experience I did, do I have to leave him fifty cents?
Friends of mine are leaving small gift cards so the child can go to the store and pick what they want. It's the same concept as money, but you can't find a gift card for less then five dollars. So they are seriously shelling out five dollars a tooth? It seems a bit much, if you ask me. Sure, it's easy to get under the pillow, but that's a lot of money for a tooth.
So what do you plan on doing? Money (and how much)? Toys? Gift cards? Nothing more then a note?
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- From: Mandi
- Name: Mandi
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Comments (11)
I'm not going to lie to my child and tell him about a fairy coming to get his tooth. :/ I know people do it for good fun, but it's a straight up lie. I'll just give him a dollar or two myself.
@apb102088@xanga - Does Santa or the Easter Bunny come to your house?
I loved receiving .50 to a $1 from the "Tooth Fairy" when I was little. I think it's just like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny -it's a fun thing to do with the kids when they're young. Finding out each of those characters weren't true didn't really bother me, because I found out at an age where I was suspecting my parents were playing the parts (6-8 yrs old).
I'm not sure if I'll do the same with my kids (it seems like a lot of work
) but I loved those little surprises when I was a kid.
Me and my sister used to get 20p everytime we lost a tooth , when I had some of my teeth taken out when I was eight (since to make room for my adult teeth, difficult mouth could not have 32 teeth. I got £7 some from my Granddad and Nan.
When I was nine I had a few more teeth taken out, mainly because to make room overcrowding problem.
Even when I had a temporary brace my Granddad and Nan bought me a key chain.
But heard one night my parents going where we put the tooth downstairs and putting it in the bin.
I had to pretend when I was nine, because my sister was 7. but when I was about six or seven, my sister had lost a tooth and my parents forgot to put a coin on the stairs, but my mum put a coin by my sister plate.
Santa I think we stopped when I was eight (sister was six) Easter Bunny no need to as we parents probably worked out if we knew there was no santa, no tooth fairy than no Easter Bunny.
@Alliecat15@xanga - Lol no ma'am!
@Alliecat15@xanga - i know this wasn't directed at me, but i grew up knowing that santa, the tooth fairy and the easter bunny were made up. my parents told me from that start that they were just stories, but i still got presents signed "from santa", i still got money from the tooth fairy and i still got easter eggs every year too. kids can still get money and presents without being told that imaginary beings are real - i know it never ruined christmas for me. i think it's wrong to lie to your kids. they can still enjoy the "benefits" while knowing that it's all just a story.
@apb102088@xanga - i agree with you.
@apb102088@xanga - But then your kid will probably ruin it for others.. No offence to you.... Its just when kids at school "look what I got from the tooth fairy!" then hes like, I never got anything... You know?...... Also, ya Its a lie, but I sure dont care that my parents lied about that.. Its all good fun!
I would get a toonie ($2 in Canada) and my mom forgot to put it under my pillow before :O Shes done the same thing to my sister.... twice... LOL.. She doesnt believe in it anymore, but she still puts her tooth under her pillow :P (pretty sure she just lose her last baby tooth other than the 12 year old molars)
@bbanmen420@xanga - Yeah we worry about him being a brat about it, or arguing "he's not real!" "yes he is!" "no he's not!" We'll cross that bridge when we come to it I guess. Still got a few more years before school starts!
I plan on leaving a dollar and maybe a note. A friend of mine's son recently lost two teeth. She left two dollars. He comes running into the room and said, "Mom, look! I got two dollars! I'm BALLIN!" and ran back out. I never laughed so hard in my life. Kids don't really care how much they get. There is a tooth fairy and that's all that matters. Honestly, I am still debating on how long I will play tooth fairy. I don't want to have to go through the disappointment of finding out they don't exist, but at the same time, I don't want him to ruin it for his friends when they bring it up and he says, "The tooth fairy/Santa/Easter Bunny isn't real!"
The older your child is when he gets his permanent teeth, the healthier they'll be. My dad didn't have his two front teeth until he hit junior high, and at 88, he has no cavities. I was late with teeth, my kids were too. My daughter didn't pop a baby tooth until 14 months. Both my kids have no cavities, and they are in their 30's. They had a "tooth" pillow that someone made for us, a pillow with a little flap in the front, and I'd leave a quarter. One year I forgot for about a week, and someone at church asked my daughter if the tooth fairy left her anything. She said, "Yeah, but she was real late this year!" It wasn't a problem with them coming to grips on their own about the truthfulness of it, and they weren't hurt by it. And they never did believe in Santa, because my daughter saw a picture of rein deer when she was three and asked me if they could fly. I said no, and she said she didn't think so. So when my son was two, she told him the truth. And neither was ever hurt by it.
I see no problem with children believing in things such as Santa, Tooth Fairy, etc. But I don't lie either. I think most children understand that it's not real at a young age, but like the make believe of it all. My brother in law refuses to even discuss Santa because he feels so strongly about it. I say to each his own. I like letting my kids enjoy make believe, but when they ask questions, I answer honestly appropriate for their age. As parents we must do this all the time (like a 5 year old asking where babies come from; are we going to be graphically honest there?).