Thankfully her story was less bloody that the kid who fell out of the tree the day before and had to be sent home. I'm sure her camp leader wasn't expecting that much excitement in camp that week!
The problem with not having any notice for this loose tooth, was that I was not prepared to play tooth fairy. In the past we've given her a $2 bill for each tooth. It wasn't actually that expensive because of her poor money handling skills. She would coo over her cool $2 bill and carry it around the house with her. Inevitably she would put it down somewhere and forget about it. Then I would find it and hide it away for the next lost tooth. (Does that make me a horrible mother??)
This time, though, it had been a while since any teeth had come out in our house. I couldn't remember where that $2 had gotten to. I texted Ken at work to see if he had any in the tills at work. No such luck. We decided to go with two dollar coins. Those are fun and cool too, right? She put her tooth in her tooth pouch and placed it under her pillow before bed. I remembered to do the swap before I went to bed. No one woke up and Frances was excited for her money in the morning. That's how tooth fairy stuff is supposed to work, right??
Not anymore! Apparently, the tooth fairy is trying to become big business! A company has come up with a way to commercialize the tooth fairy. Not only will they assign a rock star attired fairy to your child, but they will sign you up for a targeted marketing campaign that will follow your child well into adulthood.
I'm saying "no thank you" to commercializing the tooth fairy at my house. You can follow the link above and get involved too.
Tell me about the tooth fairy at your house. What special tooth traditions do you have?
Oh Lord. There really are suckers born every day aren't there?! I burst out laughing at the fact that you recycle the money...that, my friend, is awesome. The only tradition in our house is that the fairy leaves a note signed with glitter!-Ashley
ReplyDeleteOh, my gosh, I haven't even thought about this yet. I think I was five when my first tooth came out...that's right around the corner for Sam. I think I got a quarter. I guess there's been some inflation where the tooth fairy's rates are concerned?
ReplyDeleteI'm all about the money signed with glitter over here! We're still 2-3 years from that, I should think. As a kid I got a dollar per tooth and sometimes a small toy.
ReplyDeleteTwo dollars! The Tooth Fairy sounds pretty generous to me. I only got one dollar except for the time I had to get my tooth pulled. I am laughing at you recycling the two dollar bill. Clever! I think the traditional way of duping kids into believing in mythical creatures is most fun. :)
ReplyDeleteThe tooth fairy is pretty traditional around our place. I love that you used the same $2 bill!
ReplyDeleteYes, that makes you a bad mother. ;-) LOL!
ReplyDeleteI used to work with a guy who was always complaining about his kids. For one thing, he apparently had not even heard of standing up to his kids; that'll frustrate the heck out of a parent, don't you think?
Once he said that his kids wouldn't let him "get away with paying less than one or two bucks" for each tooth. (This was in about 1989, so we're talking about $2 to $4. I think my kids got a quarter each, except for molars.) I balked at that. "Or what?" I challenged him. "Or they'll take their teeth to another tooth fairy?" He had no answer. Silly man!
We are all done with the tooth fairy, but my kids used to leave her notes asking what her name was, what she looked like, etc. As they got older they asked for more money (she left $1) because they were saving up for something big. She always answered in her curly q handwriting, but never gave more than $1 until the last tooth - then she gave $5. Funny thing is, my kids have never questioned her existence even now that they are done. I think they know but don't want it confirmed!
ReplyDeleteWe're also a few years away from the tooth fairy here. When I was a kid, I also got a two dollar bill! My mom always told me hows special they were- too special to spend. So she'd "buy" it back from me and give two singles to me. Clever clever! I'm pretty sure I got the came recycled $2 bill over and over too!
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