
By the brilliant Grace Farris.
P.S. The best worst bedtime stories and mom glossary.
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.
What is one supposed to say? To write? To tell our still-alive children?
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