What I’ve Learned As the Tooth Fairy

I have to admit that the tooth fairy forgot a couple of times, we said that the tooth fairy couldn’t find the tooth and that it needed to be put in a very easy place for her to find. So then the tooth went into a special pocket on the tooth fairy pillow which was then left at the top of the stairs, when the tooth fairy went upstairs (aka known as going to bed) there was no way she could miss it. Each child in our family also had their own tooth fairy and they left them notes sometimes too, my daughters had fairies called Petal and Feather, my son had a boy fairy called Puck. The notes were handwritten and signed and were actually left in response to notes the children had written, it would have been rude not to reply first time around so we just carried on. I think the first note was because one of my daughters wrote the tooth fairy a letter to ask the name of the fairy visiting her and it just snowballed from there. Being a tooth fairy is such an easy way to make your child happy, much easier than finding a meal that they are happy to eat.

Geez, how *is* the tooth fairy operating during a national coin shortage?

In our house, if you happen to swallow the tooth before you catch it, the tooth fairy brings double the amount!

I was baby-sitting two kids for a weekend when I was in my early 20s. The older girl lost a tooth in the afternoon so I had to stealthily contact the parents to learn the tooth fairy traditions in their house before bedtime. Turns out teeth there were worth $5. Thank goodness I had a five dollar bill. I was nervous so I ironed it. to make it extra-crispy before doing the under-pillow swap. Whew!
In the morning the younger daughter asked her sister what the tooth fairy had brought her. The older girl looked me right in the eye while she told her sister, “$10” (not $5). I swear she was questioning this whole Tooth Fairy thing and baiting me. I didn’t bite though. I just said, “Wow. That’s a lot more than the tooth fairy ever brought me.” Sneaky kiddo!

I “buy back” the silver dollars, by giving the kids the impression that they are not entirely legal tender (“Well, have you ever seen anyone buying groceries with silver dollars? No? Ok. Let’s trade: I’ll buy the silver dollar with one paper dollar, or four quarters, or ten dimes”). Teaches equivalency, adds to the magic, and means I have gotten through, like, ten lost teeth with just a few silver dollars.

I’m a teacher, and because I teach a “special” (library), I’m zooming with students during their remote portion of the hybrid schedule (half the day you learn at home, the other half at school). The challenges in this are many, but I feel like I’m rocking it.

One tricky thing is that I have half a grade level at a time (think: 35 first graders). Students want to connect with me, so we’ve had lots of “it’s my dad’s/dog’s/guinea pig’s birthday!” and so much conversation about lost teeth. During one 1st grade meeting, a girl unmuted and said that she was going through her mom’s dresser (oh no) and she found (uh oh) her tooth and the letter for the tooth fairy (full on sweat). She stated, firmly, that she was going to try again, because she thinks the tooth fairy was busy (thank you, dear baby jesus). Another buddy, who cannot stay muted, either, cut in to say, “Yeah? Well I know where she was…” (back to sweating) “She was busy at my house!” He pulls his ipad into his gummy, toothless mouth to show us how many missing teeth he’s had. I had to laugh out loud.

I confess, I told my children that teeth lost after 6pm would not be picked up by the tooth fairy until the next day. Also, the tooth did not go under the pillow anymore but in a special spot on the dining room table. I could have used a dish, but I don’t remember doing that. If I did it was a very small dish.

In our house it morphed into the child puts the pulled tooth in a baggie, and hangs it on the fridge with a magnet, and in the morning the tooth and bag are long gone, and there’s a buck under the magnet. It’s kind of tragic, but completely doable.

Ha Ha! This is awesome!

LOVE that I am not the only parent who has this issue. One morning, after forgetting once again, I just lost it and announced, in exasperation, “there is no tooth fairy. I’m sorry if this is upsetting, but I just can’t do this anymore!” My daughter just shrugged, hugged me, and said. “OK, Mom.”

Oh I love this thread! It’s the best of this world.

Love this!

A few other ‘tips’ from over the years:
1. If you swallowed the tooth or lost it, the TF will still come.
2. Nothing special teeth get $1-2. It’s good for keeping reasonable, grounded expectations in life.
3. If you only have a $20 then that was an “extra special tooth” and you still have to give it. (My friend once “had” to give a $50!)
4. Nothing wrong with leaving the window open a crack to keep the fantasy going.
5. If you forget, it’s good to remember that sometimes the TF gets stuck in traffic and can always come the next night.
6. Never tell. They obviously know it’s you eventually and they are still psyched to keep it going.

My daugher is almost 12 years old so our Tooth Fairy Days are behind us, however I 100% agree with number 2 on your list. When she lost her first tooth my husband and I decided to leave glitter (aka fairy dust) on her nightstand, near her pillow etc. She loved it, but man, was it hard to sustain, especially on the nights the Tooth Fairy was running late and/or already in bed when she realized she had forgotton. : ) It was worth it though. Always is.

My parents would forget for a few nights when I was growing up and always came up with the best excuses. The tooth fairy would get caught in the sprinklers so she couldn’t fly in that night or get caught in air traffic. We never really believed in the fairy but it was a fun to hear their creative stories.

Any no tooth fairy families out there? We did a big present and cake for the first one, and then some smaller treats for the rest.

And yep, we dont pretend about Santa, Easter bunny, etc, although we do celebrate all of these holidays with enthusiasm. The kids seem ok, fingers crossed!

My oldest daughter asked for chocolate coins instead of money, so that’s what my girls get. I am also continuing the (creepy?) family tradition of storing their baby teeth in the girls’ bronzed baby shoes. They like to play with them and look at them as much as I liked to.

Our oldest just got a full-sized bed and sleeps on the far side. It was FAR easier to pull out the tooth when it from the top bunk of a twin-sized bed. And, somehow, she’s lost THREE teeth in the couple weeks since the bed swap. Luckily, there was a tooth lost early in the pandemic that set precedent (by note) for the tooth fairy being late due to safety precautions and fewer tooth swaps per night… We also use the Sacajawea coin, which may have been a mistake, but used to be easy to get as change from vending machines… back when vending machines and an office were a thing that happened.

Years ago I noticed my 8yo son had lost a tooth. I asked him when it had happened. “Three days ago. And no tooth fairy!” So I pointed out that maybe the tooth was too well hidden. So he showed it to me, on my bedside table. Oops. I made a mental note to exchange it for money. But I forgot!!! The next day my son said “Still no money, and this time the tooth fairy knew!!!” Busted!

I remember thinking as a kid that there was NO WAY the Tooth Fairy was going to be able to sneak into my room; reach under my pillow while I was sleeping; take a tooth AND leave money all without waking me (they always managed ha). However, now that my 5 year old has started losing teeth I realize it’s the easiest thing, no stealth required. She sleeps like the dead. The Tooth Fairy gig is my jam (ie. EASY).

The pandemic and sheltering-in-place prompted some cleaning, sorting and purging, including my twin sons’ baby teeth which were individually wrapped in various tissues, coffee filters, envelopes and ziplock baggies. The Tooth Fairy had to work with whatever she had at hand to note the date and which child’s tooth it was.

Those sons turn 17 in a couple of weeks. They were utterly uninterested in the bounty I’d been saving for over a decade and asked “why did you save them?!” What a good question I could not answer very sufficiently.

Our son lost his first tooth on Christmas Eve. It remains his most exciting life event that Santa got to see the Tooth Fairy. We of course had to do a note from Santa relating to spotting his dear friend. This is also my best execution of tooth fairy duties.

You always remember TF duties for the first tooth. But after that…. that alarm is no joke! TF Reminder is on my phone to be activated any time a tooth breaks free.

This sounds like in the US there ist a gift for every tooth?
I know it only for the first one…

Every tooth would totally stress me out. ?

I remember as a kid we had a special tooth fairy pillow with a pocket for the tooth – but it essentially was just a small hole that led to the stuffing of the pillow (where a tooth could slip away leaving you digging around with one finger). It did not take long for my mom to suggest putting the tooth in a sandwich bag in the pocket to make it easier on the fairy.

My mom used to tell me that the tooth fairy couldn’t get inside our home because the house alarm was on and she didn’t want the police to show up. The next night, I’d remind my parents at least a dozen times NOT to set the alarm!