Tooth Fairy?

[Godgrl Gomer]

My little (I'm a big boy, Mummy!) Elijah lost his 1st tooth this morning! awwww

We have been waiting for it to come out for nearly 3 months!:eek: Last night we saw that there was serious movement and John asked if the tooth was worth $2 so he could buy an ice cream or something. (Mind you, Ice Creams are at least $2.50!)
This morning Elijah's tooth fell out whilst talking to Daddy and Daddy immediately handed over $2 saying that was his reward.
Elijah asked "What about the tooth fairy"? He had heard about it at school.
John immediately said that there is no tooth fairy and that parents give the money.:eek:
I sat there stunned.

We haven't told Elijah about Santa Clause. It didn't occur to us and when he was 3 he asked who the bearded guy in the red suit was. I have told him that he helps celebrate Jesus' birthday. I have not been clear if he is pretend and Elijah hasn't had a Christmas gift from Santa. All gifts have been from people...
Elijah's school solved the Easter Bunny dilemma by teaching the kids that as Christians we do not celebrate the Easter Bunny but celebrate that Jesus died for our sin on the Cross & rose from the grave. They do allow Easter egg hunts etc.

So poor little Elijah has not had the imaginary figures in his life and now he has missed out on the Tooth Fairy.

I am not sure what to think. I do remember being devastated when at the age of 8 I found out Santa and The Bunny were not real. I felt betrayed by my parents. I questioned that if they could lie to me about that, what else about my life was a lie? Deep questions for a kid!
Mum would put flour out on the table and make bunny marks and put bites in carrots ....we had letters for Santa and replies from him...goodies for the reindeer... So I felt ultimately betrayed. I ran out and immediately told my 4 year old brother that our parents were traitors! LOL


So what would you do or have you done in regard to the Tooth Fairy?

Elijah is very trusting of us and believes all we say almost without question. He is very in tune with the Holy Spirit and enjoys knowing about Jesus, God and angels etc.

What has been your experience? Can you help this young mum?

Blessings
Joan

[wannabaRSgirl]

my kids told me at about 4 and 6 they wished I had NOT told them the truth about Santa, Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. I ruined their childhood! ;)
But, we have always played the game. "You better go to sleep so the tooth fairy will come, wink wink" and they knew I wasn't for real but I put the cash under the pillow and we fill stockings and have gifts set up from Santa and get Easter Baskets.

James Dobson's view I believe is that it is good for the child's imagination. I don't think I heard that till after the fact, but either way, I feel very secure and have no regrets about the way we (I should say I, I didn't realize my husband wasn't on board for telling kids the truth until too late) did things.

If you do it the "Traditional" way, you totally run the risk of kids opening their mouths at school and then you have teachers and parents alike coming after you with pitch forks! Just a little warning. I don't know how many times I have instructed my kids to NEVER speak of the issue outside our home for fear they won't have any friends left and yet I catch them every year at Christmas telling!

[Godgrl Gomer]

Kids are funny! As soon as you tell them not to do something they go do it - usually;)
I dont regret anything - yet. haha.
Seriously though. Elijah can never use it and say we have lied to him. He is a unique character and is a deep thinker. I think that even if we played the Santa game, he would have figured out the truth really fast.

I will have to take each day as it comes with Caleb.


Hmmm Caleb has been VERY quiet for too long...better go see...:o

[kiwisongbird]

When Andre was four, I got accosted by a Santa in a mall who accused me of ruining my son's life by telling him that Santa wasn't real... Andre had been looking at a book that mentioned the fact that Santa was part of a huge advertising campaign by Coca Cola and proceeded to tell the Santa all about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It didn't help that the Santa then offered him a lollipop of a fllavour that made Andre gag! I mean if he was real, surely he would know what flavour to give to a kid!!!!! Silly Santa!!

I don't think our boys have suffered too much by not having Santa, Easter B and Tooth Fairy - they always got money for their teeth anyway and their first tooth they got a lot so if we forgot from then on it didn't matter too much!!

[Jason]

From a New York newspaper in 1897:

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

[mercyGurl]

I never got money for any of my teeth. My parents never gave us Easter Baskets. We knew that our presents came from Mom and Dad for Christmas, and that there was no Santa Claus.

Yet somehow, I ended up the most imaginative child--and am still more imaginative than most of my friends. Plus, my family is a very healthy family--human and sinful, but healthy.

I am glad my parents told us the truth. What I may have "lost" in imaginary friends I gained in trust of my parents. If you're telling your kids there is a guy that they can't see that has somewhat omniscient and benevolent features, and then they find out he's not real, why should they take your word for it that God is real? After all, he and Santa share similar characteristics.

If I were you, I would not worry about it. Encourage your son to foster his OWN imaginary worlds and ideas, not just something that others have made up. They're much more interesting that way.

[EmmoGomer]

OH NO!! The whole Father Christmas, Easter bunny, Tooth fairy dilemma!! It's something we've struggled with. I was brought up on them (except easter bunny) and it did me no harm. When I found out the 'truth' I wasn't devastated my only thought was - will I still get presents :confused: ?! In fact I'd known for several years but hadn't told my Mum for fear of losing out on gifts :rolleyes: .

My sister in law knew from a young age because she was so scared of an old man coming into her bedroom.....:eek:

My Mum went down the 'tell him the truth' route with my brother (he's 13 years younger than me) and to this day he's gutted at not having the magic of Christmas.

Sooooooo. What do we do? Joel isn't stupid. He sees the dressed up guys around the Christmas season. He says 'That's just a man dressed up isn't it?' Well, what can you you say? Of course it is!! We don't lie to him, we just avoid the truth. He asks if Santa's real, we say what do you think? We leave it to him to make up his own mind. He doesn't get a stocking filled with gifts from Father Christmas, they are from us. He's allowed to ask FC for one small thing - last year is was DJ from the Cars film. My brother in law made footprints left by Santa. Joel thought that was fun. Rudolf nibbled a carrot. I don't know what Joel believes. Hold on I'll ask him ..........Nope he doesn't think he's real ;) . So there you go, we try to have a little 'sparkle' without lies.

[Godgrl Gomer]

Jason, that was lovely.
Emily - that was hilarious...you are gorgeous!

Elijah is one of the most imaginative kids I know. We figured that if we didn't lie in the first place, then we wouldn't have to break the truth later....;)

Strange. I am not concerned about the Easter Bunny or Father Christmas, but struggled over the Tooth Fairy:rolleyes: Whats wrong with me! LOL

Must be all that Green Eggs and Ham....:( ;)

[luvmyrottie]

The Tooth Fairy was the only one that we told our kids was real. Don't ask me why, I have no idea! It took them a little while to catch on that their Dad was the Tooth Fairy. But we just told them that if they put their tooth under their pillow, the Tooth Fairy would come and take it and exchange it for money. We didn't describe the Tooth Fairy or anything like that, so we told the truth. That is exactly what their dad did.

The kids knew from the get-go that Santa wasn't real. We told them it was a game that people played at Christmas and that some kids didn't know that and it was important that it be their parents that told them it was a game. When our oldest was about 2, a lady from my husband's store asked her what Santa was going to bring her for Christmas. Bailey gave her this pitying look and motioned her closer, then whispered, "Santa isn't real." She figured this lady was old enough that someone should have told her by now! It was so cute! But then the lady got all over me because I didn't let my kids believe in Santa! But my husband's family always has one of the uncles dressed up as Santa at Christmas. The kids had fun trying to figure out which uncle "missed" Santa! And they always got a present from him, so they didn't miss out just because they knew the truth.

I think the reason we did the Tooth Fairy and not Santa or the Easter Bunny was because it didn't have anything to do with a holiday. The others take away the Christian focus of the holiday that we were celebrating and we didn't want that for our kids. But the Tooth Fairy didn't.

[Godgrl Gomer]

Thanks for sharing guys!

[sandie]

It's not a big deal, and certainly not when they've grown up, to put this into perspective. Michael enjoyed getting the money the Tooth Fairy left as a child, but it wasn't an important part of his life.

He and his girlfriend have just left for a party. What was important was my meat loaf, which he's just eaten. Jessica now likes it, too. He wants to come over and write out the recipe, and a few others. :)