Fire the tooth fairy!
There’s no way around this. The Tooth Fairy’s gotta go. Her work is inconsistent. She shirks on her duties. She’s been around forever and hasn’t adapted to the Information Age. For heaven’s sake, have you seen her expense report? The mileage is astronomical, and the cost of fairy dust is eating away at profits. It would be so easy to outsource the job and find someone in a remote location to wire all those micropayments through Paypal. Not to mention that her lyrical little voice drives everyone else crazy. Fire that fairy!
OK, full disclosure. The Tooth Fairy forgot. Last night. My son awoke with that Christmas morning look on his face, which quickly dissolved into disappointment. The lips started to quiver; the eyes moistened. I thought, “Don’t cry! Please don’t cry! If you don’t cry, I will buy you the stupid DS, feed you candy for dinner, and let you watch Pokemon and SpongeBob in a continuous loop for the rest of your life.”
He didn’t cry. I did — later.
Of course, we concocted an elaborate lie story about how the note must have fallen out from under his pillow, the tooth fairy didn’t see it, but if he leaves the note in a GIANT envelope, she will surely come back tonight. I mean, this happened once to my very own sister, who will probably call him tonight and repeat the same lie story, reassuring him that even the Tooth Fairy makes mistakes but she always corrects them. Right? Wink, wink.
The rationalist in me knows that all of this Tooth Fairy/Santa Claus/Easter Bunny stuff has the potential to set kids up for disillusion. I remember that rite of passage when my older siblings told me none of it was true, but I desperately wanted to believe, to hold on to that magical part of my childhood. I’ve had little debates with myself over why we do this. They go something like this: We teach them not to lie. But it’s magic. We teach them to know the difference between their imagination and reality. But they’re so innocent. It’s a giant lie, constructed by adults. But it makes them so happy. And on and on.
Oh well. I made the decision years ago to participate in this fantasy. I know someone who told his young children that Santa was a Capitalist Construct before they were old enough to understand what he was saying, but when they were old enough, he bought into the whole package. So much for philosophy when those little eyes are looking up at you with such hope as they scurry off to bed. I always try to tell my kids the truth (ok, I only gave them part of the truth when they asked how babies were conceived in the line at the grocery story, but at least I didn’t lie). But I’m not committed to raising adults in pint-sized packages, and a little magic isn’t going to hurt anyone. Let them be little while it lasts. Childhood is so fleeting as it is.
Of course, all this navel-gazing is just one mother trying to rationalize the fact that she forgot. And now it’s time to go get some gold glitter. The Tooth Fairy wants to keep her job, so tonight’s performance better be a good one.
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I never believed in Santa Claus and still don’t understand why grown-ups make such a big deal about him. As a parent, I’ve gone along with it, partly because I think I would have been ostracized by my community if I didn’t and partly because it was important to my husband. And, it has been fun and satisfying to watch my own kids and how much Santa seems to mean to them.
(I did believe in the Tooth Fairy when I was a kid, however.)
I once interviewed someone who said that people who never believed in Santa had a lot of emotional problems as adults and had trouble with trust. When I told her about Santa she was nonplussed, but relieved when I told her about the Tooth Fairy.
So, will someone tell me, why is Santa Claus such a big deal?
Anne, your comment made me smile. Even my innocent, eager-to-believe kids would wonder about your choices as a child. I can only imagine what they would say if given the choice between the Tooth Fairy and Santa. “Mom, Santa leaves much more than the Tooth Fairy. Of course, he’s the one that’s real.”
Capitalist Construct, indeed.
But it is fun sharing in the magic, especially when they take such pains to leave cookies for Santa and carrots for the Easter Bunny. Now if only my carefully composed apology from the Tooth Fairy works. We’ll see in the morning.
In response to another comment. See in context »My 7-year-old son recently asked if the Tooth Fairy was real Or, rather, he went with the teetering declaration: “The Tooth Fairy isn’t real. She’s not, is she?”
I paused, recognizing that this was one of those parenting moments you read about. Confidently, I asked, “What do you think?”
“I think she’s not real,” he said. “Tell me the truth. Is she?”
I paused again, realizing that in fact the other moment was actually just the lead-in to this, the real parenting moment.
“You’re right,” I said. “The Tooth Fairy isn’t real. But it’s fun to believe so don’t tell your sister.”
And that was it. With this secret shared knowledge between us, he happily wrote his note for the Tooth Fairy, slipped it under his pillow and went to sleep. Even knowing the truth (or maybe because of it) he still celebrates the Tooth Fairy…and not just for his sister.
So, Patti? How’d the Tooth Fairy do? Did she come through?
Who knew that a disappointment from the Tooth Fairy could give a kid strep throat? Yup, he ended up at the doctor’s office, sick as can be.
But the Tooth Fairy made up for her errant ways and left him an elegant note, along with “fairy glitter glue,” and he was starry-eyed, if still coughing and hoarse, in the morning. So the great conspiracy continues. He believes! He forgives! And to make me feel even guiltier, he spent about an hour fashioning a top-secret Mother’s Day card with the glitter glue. Be still my heart.
When my son asked if the Tooth Fairy, Santa, and the Easter Bunny were real – I did not have
In response to another comment. See in context »the heart to say no – so I told him as long as
‘believed’ they were. That ended that
conversation – unfortunately he is older now
but reminds me that he still believes!!!That is how my parents handled those delicate
questions – especially when there were alot of
children in the house.
[...] No Child Left, Patti Hartigan is torn about the Tooth Fairy tradition. “I’ve had little debates with [...]