Tooth Fairy Matters

It was lovely to reflect the other day that our eleven year old son – soon to be twelve years old – still expected the tooth fairy to leave some money underneath his pillow during the dead of night. Of course, his parents – Dad in particular – have nourished this belief from a young age, and the family custom persists. It was also interesting to see the reaction of our five year old daughter, who was most upset that the tooth fairy was not paying her a visit that night, and so she proceeded to burst into tears, like a jilted lover. I did explain to her that when she – at the appointed time – and that her time would definitely come - were to lose a tooth, the tooth fairy would visit her also. This eventually seemed to assuage her.

One of the reasons I have perpetuated this custom is to prolong the sense of child hood awe and belief in things magical. It has been suggested that the prolonging of the tradition is an attempt by parents to keep their children ‘dependent’ on them and close to their bosom, like little children are. I had not reflected on it in this way before, but methinks in our case, it is more a question of a belief in the supernatural, a spiritual acknowledgement that even in our techno/gadget-filled eon there is still a place for mystery and fantasy. I know a day will come shortly when our son no longer believes in the tooth fairy. In fact, when another tooth came out recently and we were far away from home on a ‘desert island’ he did wonder how the tooth fairy would come; and was also surprised – when he looked underneath the pillow the following morning - that she had not taken the tooth away after having left the money (- an oversight by Auntie, who was sharing a room with our son at the time!). Our son has questioned me about Father Christmas, after he wondered why one of his friends said that Father Christmas never came to his house. My reply at that time was that because his friend did not believe in Father Christmas, then that was the reason why he never visited him.

As our daughter is still young it is important, I feel, that we continue to play along with the lovely mystery of Christmas and all things magical, like the tradition of the tooth fairy, not least to offer a little comfort to a child who may be worried about a tooth having come out. It is also a nice conversation to have at the dentist, as we always found with our son. He will soon outgrow his belief. I pray that it will be replaced by another and hopefully deeper sense of awe of life’s beauty and richness.