As a kid, I believed in the tooth fairy but as I got older, I started to wonder about the story:Â
- How does the Tooth Fairy get around to all the kids’ houses in 1 night?Â
- What if a kid loses his or her tooth late at night?Â
- How long does the Tooth Fairy have time to get there?Â
- Why does she take some kid’s teeth and not others?
- What does she do with all the teeth?
- Why does she leave notes for some kids?
- Why do kids get different amounts of money?
The story sounds a little suspicious, right?
Since the days of Facebook, I’ve seen some super creative Tooth Fairy deliveries. Â I am not as creative as those people. But one thing I am good at is ensuring my kids go to their checkups regularly! Seeing as we go to a Caring and gentle Box Hill dentist, there’s not much more that I can ask for when it comes to finding a dentist who actually cares about your needs and makes you feel comfortable during every treatment. Plus, I don’t like to deal with more mess than I already need to. Â I was a teacher so I know how long glitter stays around.
If you have school age kids, I would bet it’s safe to say you can’t go much longer than 2 weeks without hearing how a parent forgot to leave money for the tooth fairy for their child. Â Children get upset, parents feel guilty, and then the child usually gets extra money because of that guilt.
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Forgetting happens. Â There are a few things that can make it easier to remember. Â You can set a timer on your phone. Â You can use a tooth fairy pillow on the door, like this one and this one. Â You can even use adorable tooth fairy stuffed animals, like this mermaid and dog. Â (Those are super cute, aren’t they? Â You should see the shark!)
I’m extremely flawed as a parent and forgetful so I came up with ONE rule that the Tooth Fairy MUST follow.
The Tooth Fairy does not always come the night you lose your tooth.Â
In fact, it may take her days. There are a lot of kids in the world who are losing teeth and it’s important that she gets to them all.Â
This has saved us countless lies (even though we’re already lying!) about how they must not have looked good enough or in the right spot. We don’t have to pretend the money fell on the floor. It gives us a buffer in case we, the parents, forget. Â Because, let’s face it, forgetting is inevitable.
Our kids never think twice if she doesn’t come the first night. In fact, it makes their anticipation even greater.Â
I know what you’re thinking: I won’t forget! Â I’ll be so excited that I won’t be able to forget.
Yes, you’ll be excited but yes, you will most likely forget. Â As parents, bedtime is a sign that our day is done. Â Sometimes we get to relax and sometimes we spend the night listening to little feet in the hallway. Â Regardless, this tip is a good precaution IN CASE you forget. Â I hope you won’t, though!
If your child hasn’t lost a tooth yet you’re going to need to think about what kind of currency your Tooth Fairy will bring. Our Tooth Fairy brings a dollar coin so we keep a roll of them on hand at all times. Â Sometimes it seems like kids lose their teeth all at the same time. Â
How does your family do the Tooth Fairy?
How much does your Tooth Fairy leave?
And what do you do with the teeth? Â Do you save them in something like this?
xoxo
–k
I’m adding this here because I know I’ll get some emails from some of you. Â I’m not sure why we do the Tooth Fairy in our house. Â We don’t do the Easter Bunny, a Leprechaun, and we rarely, if ever, mention Santa. Â Somehow we started the Tooth Fairy and it just never disappeared. Â I’m not sure if our kids actually believe or if they just like the money.
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Kristina Grum is a Certified Parent Educator who has over a decade of experience working with children, including being a classroom teacher. She currently teaches parenting classes in her local area and writes about shifting parenthood from barely surviving to thriving.
I don't know how many times we were caught not ready for the Tooth Fairy to come – these are some great ideas and I would use them if I still had little ones.
Too awesome!! I've forgotten many times…
Love this idea. We've been on track so far, but I know it's going to hit us soon!!
We were horrible at the tooth fairy! We forgot so many times and then there was the epic fail where our son actually stayed awake and caught his father (who likes to go to bed on the early side). I love your comment about how it may take days! That was perfect!
I love this. I have heard so much nonsense lately about the tooth fairy leaving ridiculous amounts of money. My kids are still too young for loose teeth, but I am totally getting a roll of dollar coins ready!
Why isn't this the norm? I always fly out of bed in a panic at 5AM. This is my new story. 🙂
I am remember waiting for the tooth fairy when I was little. I actually never thought about the questions because I'd figure it was my parents. aha. Though you say you're not that creative. That is a creative way to do things and I would've never thought about it.
Once I mailed tooth fairy money and explained I got caught up in a snow flurry over Iceland. Drew fairies on the envelope. Your idea is a lot safer!
I love the idea of the roll of dollar coins. I remember when my 3 nephews were little, the youngest one was losing teeth and he literally lost one, as in, couldn't find it (we think he swallowed it) lol and the oldest stepped up and drew him a picture to put under his pillow explaining he had swallowed it. Still makes me giggle.
I haven't forgotten (yet!), but I did fall asleep once. One time they would not go to sleep, so I taped a note to the door lol
My 5yo hasn't yet lost a tooth but we've had COUNTLESS games where we pretend to lose a tooth, go to sleep and the other plays the tooth fairy. I think he'd be excited about a penny under the pillow but really? Somebody at kindergarten will ruin that for him I'm sure. I LOVE the idea of dollar coins! Awesome post, Kristina!!
Smart mama you are!! The first tooth gone, my hubs decided to make this elaborate tooth and sketch an actual fairy on it!! He cut out the tooth with white paper- which was quite creative I must say…
But?
Every single freaking time a kid loses a tooth, I have to have him sketch this fairy!!! He has been out of town, tired, working late- you get the idea.
Way WAY too much work.
Lesson learned the hard way!! But oh, how the kids love our notes!! (More than the money!)
Brilliant! Should have thought of that instead of coming up with excuses each time. My son busted the toothfairy last year but there's still the 3yo. Keeping this in mind!
Jus the other day I saw something about spraying a dollar bill with glitter hairspray to make it look like it's from the Tooth Fairy – that's nuts!!! I would never do that. This is great!
Genius. And one of those "duh" moments – should've thought of that!