The Tooth Fairy and Friends

My friend Shelley posted on her blog about her 9 year old daughter losing another tooth, and asking "the big question." Someone commented that when kids find out the tooth fairy & santa clause aren't exactly who they thought they were, it is the end of an era. How true. But that prompted me to want to write about the topic as well. Just because one era is coming to an end doesn't mean it has to be all sad.

AJ asked when he was 6. He had just pulled his 3rd tooth. He came in & handed it to me as he was getting ready for bed. I said something to the effect of "aren't you going to put it under your pillow for the tooth fairy?" He told me he knew it was me & daddy who took the tooth & left the money. He said "I know the tooth fairy is not real. Just like I know Santa Clause is not real." We'd had the Santa discussion when he was 4. FOUR! So early in life for a kid to be so serious, and at the same time, so smart. I took the opportunity to make a special memory - with the tooth, by pulling out his baby book & showing him the tooth chart where I had written in the dates when his teeth came in. I had also saved all of the teeth he has lost in tiny baggies & attached them to that same page with the dates he lost them. He thought that was pretty cool. Now when he loses a tooth, he wants to put it in the baby book. A new special memory. :)

With Santa, we talked about how the story of Santa came about. We talked about St. Nicholas, and about giving toys to kids who don't have new toys for Christmas. We talked about the opportunity we have to be Santa for someone else. We have done that every year since... He wraps presents for other little boys who are in need, and we deliver them to the porch, ring the bell, then hide to watch the family find the gifts, complete with tags saying "From Santa". He loves this tradition. Sometimes he wraps up his own toys he no longer plays with, sometimes we go to the store & shop for our special family of the year. One year we actually ended up delivering toys to a family who lived next door to my grandmother. Sometimes we do it by ourselves, sometimes we do it with another family. Each time, we make a special memory.

The truth finding phase is indeed the end of an era, but it is also a chance to make other memories that can be just as special.