How the Tooth Fairy Flies at Our House

This post is a couple of years old, I originally wrote it for the now-defunct NYC Moms Blog.

It's back again in honor of National Tooth Fairies Day, which is celebrated tomorrow. And yes, I think this makes it official that holidays have jumped the shark.

My daughter lost her first tooth today. This event was particularly momentous for her because she was, as she put it, "the very, very last person in my whole class and the whole first grade to lose a tooth!"

This afternoon, as the tooth hung tenuously on, she explained to me what would happen tonight when the Tooth Fairy arrived. For those of you who last knew the Tooth Fairy in the 1970s and '80s, let me tell you she has changed a lot since those simpler times.

For instance, did you know that the Tooth Fairy is no longer an individual practitioner? That's right, the Tooth Fairy of today is a member of the Tooth Fairy Collective, and you never know which Tooth Fairy will visit you. For one tooth, you might get a quarter. For another, a book. And sometimes, you get the Tooth Fairy who leaves a piece of gum or candy, even though that doesn't really make sense since you'd think the Tooth Fairy would be all about dental health, working in the industry as she does.

In addition, the Tooth Fairy Collective works very closely with the Sandman Union (Local 286), a member of which precedes the Tooth Fairy to make sure the child is completely and entirely asleep before the Tooth Fairy makes the exchange. I don't know about you, but in my day the Tooth Fairy worked alone. Since when does she need a male helper to be her advance man?

There are other changes as well. My daughter informed me you can leave the Tooth Fairy a note with a specific request. When I asked if she had written one of those notes she responded, "Of, course!"

When I mentioned she'd better make sure to put it under her pillow for when the Tooth Fairy comes tonight, she informs me, "Oh no, you don't need to do that. She can find the note wherever you leave it, anywhere in the house. That's nothing for her. If the Tooth Fairy can find Hailey's lost tooth on the playground, she can find a note anywhere in the house."

Wow. This new and improved Tooth Fairy really is something else!

And last, my daughter provided me with this final fact about the Tooth Fairy, who clearly has a lot more on her mind then her predecessor did thirty years ago: "Sometimes the tooth fairy gets really busy, and doesn't come even if you leave a tooth under your pillow. But don't worry if that happens, she always finds time to come the next night. Or at the very latest, the night after that."

For more tooth fairy fun, check out the Tooth Fairy Pinterest Board.

And for a few books, songs and funny stories of Tooth Fairy visits gone awry, check out my post at New Jersey Family magazine: Tooth Fairy Goofs and Tooth Fairy Fun.

Have you ever had a Tooth Fairy mission not go exactly as planned?

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I'm linking-up to Finding the Funny at Kelley's Break Room and My Life and Kids