Monday, September 28, 2009

Reflections on the Tooth Fairy

If I had it to do over again, I never would have introduced the idea of the tooth fairy.

Nine times out of ten, I forget to put the money under the pillow on the night a tooth has fallen out of one of the kids mouths. It's such a hassle. Most of the time I fall asleep before my kids. In the morning they are always sorely disappointed and I have to concoct some lie about how the tooth fairy was running late last night and the money will probably be under their pillow when they come home from school.

Plus, they want a dollar per tooth. To be honest, I guess it was me who set that precedent. But they are very greedy about the whole thing; numbering their soon to fall out teeth in dollars. Cha-ching!

Today I felt the tooth fairy's sting most sharply when Ethan, almost 12 came home from middle school with a pulled out tooth in a little green, plastic treasure chest he got from the nurses office.

"Hey mom," he said. "Do you think the tooth fairy can make, like, you know, a treasure hunt for the dollar I get for this tooth?"

"Can't I just give you the dollar?" I asked.

Ethan sighed, lowered his head in a move that Good Grief Charlie Brown would envy, and shuffled off.

I'm not doing a treasure hunt, but maybe $2 will ease his disappointment a little.

4 comments:

Erika said...

Ya, once they start losing the molars I just hand them the dollar. I feel ridiculous doing it because why should I be paying my kids for their teeth? They all have fillings in them anyway, it's not like they're being rewarded for taking care of their teeth or anything, so what's the point? The whole thing is just preposterous!!!

Emily said...

tell them the recession is effecting the tooth fairy. She is having to lay off helpers and give things like apples instead!

Shannah said...

ROFL! Geoffery says just that when he gets the tooth fairy money *Cha-ching!!*

As for forgetting,... I'm the queen of that,... when they were little, I could scoop the money into my hand and say "what?? not there?? lets go look together,..... why here it is, it must've fallen off the bed when you were sleeping!" :o)

Kristen W. said...

Be grateful you don't live in Florida...some little brats, oops, I mean dear children, get 10 bucks a tooth here! Sheesh!