The tooth fairy was bad last week, very bad and forgetful. The first morning there were a few tears when a sad little girl discovered that the tooth was still under her pillow. However she quickly recovered her composure when she realized that the tinfoil might have been the problem. She fixed that problem by sticking the tooth in a ziplock bag and happily stuck it back under her pillow (sadly, we seem to have lost the adorable little toothbox we bought in Paris).
The next morning the tears took much longer to dry. This time the space under the pillow was completely empty. No money and no tooth. Very troubling indeed. Things were remedied in the afternoon when the sweet girl returned home to conduct a thorough investigation of her room and she discovered a little ziplock bag with coins under her bed. It turns out that delinquent tooth fairies are granted special permission to conduct exchanges during the day light hours.
In all seriousness, it made me feel dreadful. It also had me thinking, what do fairies do with all of those teeth? toss them? save them? Really, what do you do? I have a distinct memory of one of my childhood friends showing me a special little container in her mother's jewelry box. My friend proudly showed me her mother's collection of special pearls. I wasn't an idiot and could clearly see that they were teeth. Tiny, little baby teeth. And related to issues of belief and parental involvement, did anyone hear the This American Life holiday story about one family's elaborate and complicated relationship with a few different Santas?
Oh no! I have forgotten about tooth fairy duty before too. Felt so bad about it. But if Facebook status updates during the past couple years are any indication, we are in good company. Doesn't quite take away the sting, unfortunately. I also have been wondering what to do with my growing collection of baby teeth. I do not want to keep them, but on the other hand tossing them out feels like tossing out a bit of my children. Well, it IS tossing out a bit of them, isn't it?
And lastly, YES, I heard that story. Aside from thinking that the family is a teensy bit bizarre, I felt kind of angry at the kid who couldn't get over finding out the truth. Which...seems kind of backward. I wonder how I would have felt if I had heard this prior to having children? On the other hand I found it interesting that the other kids were okay with it and one wasn't. What is the difference in the personalities there?
I love my babies, but I chuck the teeth.
I almost had this exact problem two nights ago. I luckily saw the little tooth box from school on the table as I was going to bed, otherwise I would've had one sad little friend in the morning :)
Oh, I've been there too. Thank goodness for flexible imaginations! You might want to pick up What the Dickens: The Tale of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire (of Wicked fame). It's a children's novel, but suitable for adults. Amusing and intriguing (but with a bit of an agenda, alas), it reveals exactly why those tooth fairies are willing to drop down cold hard cash for teeth (and I love what they do with them once they've got them!).
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