Twice last month, the tooth fairy forgot about my kids. Twice! Once is bad enough, but twice? That’s ridiculous. Once is an oversight. The second time was unforgiveable.
The first time happened about two weeks ago. I got the terrible news when my six year old came in, crying about how the tooth fairy had not come. I was livid. How cold! How uncaring can this individual be? I explained to my daughter that perhaps the tooth fairy was extra busy last night and was still on her way. “It’s still pretty early,” I suggested. “Maybe she had to pick up so many teeth last night that she is running behind.” (Note: I use ‘she’ herein as a general reference term. Because I have never met the tooth fairy face to face, I cannot be sure what gender he, or she is. I did almost see her once, when I was a boy, but it was from behind and kind of dark in the room, so I wasn’t able to come to any decisive conclusion. But, that thought assumes my children have the same tooth fairy as I did, which, I suspect is probably unlikely. In any case, please substitute ‘he’ for ‘she’ if you feel so inclined.)
Of course telling my daughter the tooth fairy was busy was a lie (something I very much dislike about being a parent and avoid whenever possible). Obviously, the tooth fairy just fell down on the job and misplaced the information about coming to our house that night. But that was way too crushing for my sweet daughter to hear, and way too complicated for me to explain when I had just woken up.
In the end, everything turned out okay because the tooth fairy came through while everyone was gone from the house. In addition to the traditional one dollar bill, she even threw in an extra ten cents for having messed up so bad.
You would think she would have learned her lesson. And you would think she would want to try harder to hang onto her extra ten cents. But no, like a week or ten days later, it’s the same old, same old around here. This time it was my son who was ripped off. But he’s a little older, and tougher, and I think also a little more forgiving. He seemed to be okay with it and nonchalantly mentioned the incident at breakfast that morning.
“Again?” I shouted. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal to him, but I was infuriated. “This is an outrage! Who does one complain to about these things?” I gave him the same old, worn out speech about the tooth fairy being busy. He seemed to be okay with that. Besides, I think he was excited about the possibility of an extra dime.
Later that night, as he went to bed, he casually asked, “Is the tooth fairy a man or a woman?” Without giving us time to answer, he mentioned that if we saw the tooth fairy tonight, maybe we could remind him or her that he had lost a tooth.
“I don’t know if it’s a man or a woman,” I said. “And we probably we won’t see him or her before we go to bed. But, if we do, we will let him or her know.”
Fortunately, without any prompting from us, the tooth fairy did make it to our house that night. And again, he or she left a little something extra for my son’s troubles.
Last month, all totaled, the tooth fairy came to our house four times. Twice she caused a stir and twice she did her job flawlessly. I’ve had a thought that makes me reconsider my position on the whole thing. In baseball, a 50% average gets you instantly inducted into the hall of fame. So maybe it’s not as bad as it could have been.
Come to think of it, it’s probably a tough job keeping track of all those kids and teeth and dollar bills. And it’s got to be hard trying to never get caught, and then never getting any credit for all that sneaking around and stuff. I suggest, everyone just forgive the tooth fairy for a little mistake here and there. Maybe she’s new to the job or maybe it’s just a second job to help make ends meet. Whatever her problem is, please forgive if you can. But, if that’s too much to ask, maybe we should all just cut her a little slack.
The first time happened about two weeks ago. I got the terrible news when my six year old came in, crying about how the tooth fairy had not come. I was livid. How cold! How uncaring can this individual be? I explained to my daughter that perhaps the tooth fairy was extra busy last night and was still on her way. “It’s still pretty early,” I suggested. “Maybe she had to pick up so many teeth last night that she is running behind.” (Note: I use ‘she’ herein as a general reference term. Because I have never met the tooth fairy face to face, I cannot be sure what gender he, or she is. I did almost see her once, when I was a boy, but it was from behind and kind of dark in the room, so I wasn’t able to come to any decisive conclusion. But, that thought assumes my children have the same tooth fairy as I did, which, I suspect is probably unlikely. In any case, please substitute ‘he’ for ‘she’ if you feel so inclined.)
Of course telling my daughter the tooth fairy was busy was a lie (something I very much dislike about being a parent and avoid whenever possible). Obviously, the tooth fairy just fell down on the job and misplaced the information about coming to our house that night. But that was way too crushing for my sweet daughter to hear, and way too complicated for me to explain when I had just woken up.
In the end, everything turned out okay because the tooth fairy came through while everyone was gone from the house. In addition to the traditional one dollar bill, she even threw in an extra ten cents for having messed up so bad.
You would think she would have learned her lesson. And you would think she would want to try harder to hang onto her extra ten cents. But no, like a week or ten days later, it’s the same old, same old around here. This time it was my son who was ripped off. But he’s a little older, and tougher, and I think also a little more forgiving. He seemed to be okay with it and nonchalantly mentioned the incident at breakfast that morning.
“Again?” I shouted. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal to him, but I was infuriated. “This is an outrage! Who does one complain to about these things?” I gave him the same old, worn out speech about the tooth fairy being busy. He seemed to be okay with that. Besides, I think he was excited about the possibility of an extra dime.
Later that night, as he went to bed, he casually asked, “Is the tooth fairy a man or a woman?” Without giving us time to answer, he mentioned that if we saw the tooth fairy tonight, maybe we could remind him or her that he had lost a tooth.
“I don’t know if it’s a man or a woman,” I said. “And we probably we won’t see him or her before we go to bed. But, if we do, we will let him or her know.”
Fortunately, without any prompting from us, the tooth fairy did make it to our house that night. And again, he or she left a little something extra for my son’s troubles.
Last month, all totaled, the tooth fairy came to our house four times. Twice she caused a stir and twice she did her job flawlessly. I’ve had a thought that makes me reconsider my position on the whole thing. In baseball, a 50% average gets you instantly inducted into the hall of fame. So maybe it’s not as bad as it could have been.
Come to think of it, it’s probably a tough job keeping track of all those kids and teeth and dollar bills. And it’s got to be hard trying to never get caught, and then never getting any credit for all that sneaking around and stuff. I suggest, everyone just forgive the tooth fairy for a little mistake here and there. Maybe she’s new to the job or maybe it’s just a second job to help make ends meet. Whatever her problem is, please forgive if you can. But, if that’s too much to ask, maybe we should all just cut her a little slack.
Clark
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