Oh the excitement of losing a tooth. Even after 8 teeth, the excitement is still there. As a child I remember losing teeth and being so excited for the tooth fairy. My mind always running with questions; Would she come? What would she leave me? Would she find my tooth? I would put my tooth under my pillow and try to stay awake as late as I could, so I could try to catch a glimpse of her. I never did.
Now with kids in prime teeth losing ages, I am once again reminded of how fun this process is. I am trying my hardest to answer questions about her. Yes, I am referring to her as a girl because in my child mind, she was a she. One of my boys is certain the tooth fairy is a boy, the other thinks of Tinkerbell. The questions I get are great, What time will she come? How much money will I get? What is she forgets to come? All the the same questions I had at their ages.
I think every tooth fairy does things little bit differently. Some will use tooth pillows, others a tooth box, or even just putting the tooth loosely under the pillow. Our tooth fairy, likes the boys to use envelops where they write the date and how they lost their tooth. Some of the proudest days have been when they lost them at school. Nothing like showing off your tooth in the cool tooth necklace you got from the nurses office!
Nothing is better than your child waking up and running to find you to show you what the fairy has left them. The first tooth always a little more special. Maybe a letter with some fairy dust, a higher amount of cash, or some other sort of present. In the end, I think each kid is so happy with what they got. My boys each got some Korean Won from the tooth fairy for their birthday, which they thought was the best ever, given they were born in Korea. After that they pretty much get cash. Always the dreaded, does the tooth fairy have small bills question on the day of a new lost tooth. Or when they have a tooth pulled, they might get a little something extra!
I’m not sure when kids generally understand who the tooth fairy is but in our family we have a very “if you believe, they will come” mantra. I have not had to have one conversation about whether she is real or not. They know if they question the tooth fairy, she may not come. In the end they are happy with whatever they find under their pillows. I think the excitement is more about whether or not they get to see the tooth fairy. So far, neither one has seen “her” but both are still very hopeful to see the elusive tooth fairy one of these days!
–Bri