Guys, I wasn’t ready for this one and I take full responsibility for being unprepared.
This past Wednesday my daughter had a dentist appointment. According to Pepper, dentists are scary. A reasonable conclusion, if you ask me. I initially made the appointment because she had been complaining of a toothache for a couple weeks. Little did I know that this week would be the week she would lose her first tooth! She had an infection and the doctors decided it was best to do an extraction.
My only concern at this point was the pain she’d be in. Watching the doctor take two huge needles to my 5 year old’s mouth was nearly unbearable. Not to mention dealing with all the blood dripping from her mouth for the next two hours after the procedure. It’s a mother’s nightmare to see their child in pain. I spent a good portion of my day wiping the drool and blood from her numb mouth and trying my best to comfort her.
When we got home, my fiancé and my daughter were discussing the tooth fairy. I thought nothing of it at the time. I was busy settling in, putting away some things we bought from Target and getting her bath ready. That night we put Pepper to sleep and Jason had put $3 under Pepper’s pillow (because I broke my $5 bill earlier that day and the only other bill I had was a $50). Here’s a short video right before we put her to bed:
It wasn’t until the next morning when Pepper woke up, that it really clicked in my brain. I realized I did not think this tooth fairy situation through. In the midst of my daydreaming, a couple of conversations replayed in my head with old friends on how our parents “lied to us” about the tooth fairy and her friends Santa Claus and The Easter Bunny. Is this not the same shit I just did?! I can’t take it back now, my daughter had already woken up and found the money under her pillow. So, I left the situation the way it was and left my home to go to work.
I tried to brush it off, but this silly topic bothered me ALL. DAY. I even called Jason at work for some advice and he said I was over thinking (which I agreed with). “You already told her there’s a Santa and an Easter Bunny, how is this different?” Okay, true. So why is it only sinking into my brain now? Is it because she’s getting older? I really don’t know and obviously have not put much thought into this.
It was time to do some research. Actually the time to do some research should have been a few years ago, but better late than never? *shrugs* I took my questions to the internet! Where I… still.. didn’t find a good enough answer that settled my thoughts. Ugh, figures. What I did learn is that some parents live by “Why would you ever lie to your child?! Why do they deserve to be lied to?! How do you expect them to trust you after this?!” Honestly, a bit extreme over such a silly topic. But on the other hand, I also found some down to earth responses like, “let the children be children.. It’s a harmless little myth”. Then there’s me over here, Ms. Over-thinker, wondering if every single decision I make could have some sort of domino effect on my daughter. I spent hours and hours reading up on this until my mind went in circles. Ya, I actually put that much time into research on the tooth fairy. Fun Fact: Did you know that there’s a place called “The Tooth Fairy’s Castle”, and there’s a tooth library where the names of all the children in the world are stored? Ya, Their collected teeth are kept in a huge storeroom in this “palace” and The Tooth Fairy’s elf friends make pretty jewelry out of them? Weird, right?
After all of that overthinking and research, I think I’ve decided to let this one go and just leave things how they are. I mean, I guess I could be a good tooth fairy. Might as well, I’m already Santa Claus. For the record, I’ve decided not to be one of those tooth fairies that over does it by leaving glittery footsteps behind or anything messy like that. What’s done is done, and I think that if there comes a day that my daughter decides she wants to confront me about this, I’ll just tell her the truth. That’s the simplest way, right? It sounds like a good balance between “OH MY GOD I’M A LIAR” and “let the children be children..”
If you have any comments or suggestions, or feel like sharing your beliefs on the Tooth-fairy… feel free to comment or email me privately! I’m always willing to listen to new and different perspectives.
Thank you for visiting! See you next week.
P.S. Here’s a link to an Instagram post from last week’s dental appointment:
Deep Sea Parenting 
Good job Pepper for being so brave! I don’t like going to the dentist at all =(. I’m glad that the Dr. was so awesome and made Pepper feel more comfortable while doing the procedure. Hard to find a good dentis these days.
As for the tooth fairy, when I was younger I bought in to the myth. When I lost my tooth, I cleaned it up and put it under my pillow to see what would happen. When I woke up the next morning, I got a dollar and my tooth was gone!! Of course, over time I found out she wasn’t real just like Santa Claus. To me it’s like a tradition to teach kids about these fake people, but is it right or wrong to continue this tradition? Well, I believe that it’s harmless. Even when I found out the truth I just laughed. I didn’t feel like my parents wronged me and I can’t trust them anymore. It was fun as a kid thinking that the tooth fairy and Santa really existed, but later I grew out of that and moved on. I understand that it’s different from your perspective since you are the one bringing the myth to life. I’d say, let it go and when she does confront you about it later, tell her the truth. =)
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