Moxie Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 My son is almost 11. He has heard friends make comments about the Easter Bunny, Santa and the Tooth Fairy not being real but he chooses to not believe them :confused:. He lost a tooth yesterday and the Tooth Fairy forgot to leave him any money (she is pregnant and has a cold and is very tired). He is very upset about it. I told him to put it back under his pillow tonight and she'll come tonight. My DH wants to tell him to grow up and quit believing in this stuff. I'm tempted to let him. Thoughts?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 1. I am so RELIEVED to hear that a boy my son's age (he'll be 11 in May), is also losing teeth. :lol: He's lost three in the past two months (two in the past two weeks) and I started to worry that he was odd :lol: 2. My ds knows about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, but we all play along, because of youngest ds (who still lives in imaginary land). Older ds also believes that if he admits they don't exist he'll stop getting money/gifts/candy. He still gets upset when the tooth fairy doesn't show up, but I always cover with something like, "Well, maybe she couldn't find the tooth," or, "You must have pulled it a day ahead of schedule, she's not psychic, she's just a good planner." :grouphug: Tell Uncle Scrooge to ease up. The child knows what side his bread is buttered on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 We tooth fairy clear to the end. It's fun! Sure the tooth fairy forgot and had to try again from time to time. We had friends that left their teeth in a glass of water in the bathroom with a note of what color they wanted the water magically changed into. We started this plan so I didn't have to find the tooth under their pillow without waking them. By the time my ds lost his last tooth he wanted the water colored with golden swirls. I find this note very late at night and laughed while I figured out how to win the game. A little food coloring and glitter glue and voila, the fairy wins. :D He needs several teeth pulled now - I might be in trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Even after my kids discovered that Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were not real -- which was quite young, because we didn't really push them to believe in them anyway -- we still had visits from them all for a long time.:) It was still a fun thing for them to look forward to, whether they actually believed in them or not. And fyi, I CONSTANTLY forgot to put things under their pillow from the tooth fairy. It was just a long-running understanding in our home that the tooth fairy was the most unreliable, and that it would take two or three nights for her to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 We tooth fairy clear to the end. It's fun! Sure the tooth fairy forgot and had to try again from time to time. We had friends that left their teeth in a glass of water in the bathroom with a note of what color they wanted the water magically changed into. We started this plan so I didn't have to find the tooth under their pillow without waking them. By the time my ds lost his last tooth he wanted the water colored with golden swirls. I find this note very late at night and laughed while I figured out how to win the game. A little food coloring and glitter glue and voila, the fairy wins. :D He needs several teeth pulled now - I might be in trouble. :lol: This sounds like us. My oldest ds knew the truth at that age as well but we all had fun playing along. The very last time I did it I even sprinkled "fairy dust" ... Gold glitter... around his pillow and windowsill. It was fun! . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Our tooth fairy forgets fairly regularly. She is very tired. That said, both my kids know that I am the tooth fairy but they pretend for me. The rule in our house is if you don't believe you don't get paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 My kids know there is no Tooth Fairy but we still all pretend and they still get money. I'm with your DH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyR Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Our tooth fairy tends to forget from time to time. My 12 yr old still believes in the tooth fairy and she's finished losing all of her teeth. LOL We did cover it up with " Maybe lots of other kids lost teeth the same day you did and she didn't make it in time before you woke up. So put it back under. I bet she'll come tonight." One time we forgot to put the tooth under the pillow and still had it in a baggie on our fridge. Just told our daughter that it wasn't under her pillow. That she wasn't going to look on our fridge for it. If he still believes. Let it be. Let him figure it out for himself. We played Santa for a long time and my daughter last year ( who was 13 at the time) told me, " Mom, I already know you and dad are Santa. I've known it for a while. But I just played along because I saw how happy you and dad where when you got ready for Christmas. So I just didn't say anything." We let her decide when she was ready to accept it. I think its mean and cruel for other to take that joy away , especially when they still believe. So tell your hubby to keep it to himself and let your son figure it out for himself. :>) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I'm the world's worst tooth fairy. We leave a quarter for little teeth, a dollar for molars. I've forgotten so many times it isn't funny--I have forgiving kiddos, tho. Often the TF will leave a dollar inside the pillow case (which can easily be missed--until the kiddo remembers and pulls out her pillow before coming to me and telling me the TF screwed up again! LOL) I wouldn't mess with the belief right now. They are straddling childhood and adulthood, and sometimes just want to cherish one or two small things, like a blanket or a childhood belief, even if they don't really "need it." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) I think its mean and cruel for other to take that joy away , especially when they still believe. It's all a matter of perspective. I think it's mean to encourage a preteen to keep believing the tooth fairy is real. Edited February 2, 2012 by WordGirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbmom Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I think there is a difference between a gentle conversation about the tooth fairy/Santa/Easter Bunny not being real and "Hey, you're 11, WTF is wrong with you-quit acting like a baby, grow up,and stop believing in this crap." The first is fine, the 2nd is mean. From the OP, I got the sense the 2nd is the kind of conversation Dad would like to have, in which case I would pull ds aside and tell him the truth more gently and enlist him as a "helper" for the younger children and tell him that in the future the tooth fairy forgets to not get upset but to just let me know when the littles aren't around and I'll fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 My 12yo son has known for a couple of years that the Tooth Fairy is prone to forgetting because she gets tired at night and that it helps to leave her a note. Oddly enough, the best place to leave that note is on Mom's bathroom mirror. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXBeth Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 It's all a matter of perspective. I think it's mean to encourage a preteen to keep believing the tooth fairy is real. :iagree: It is mind-boggling to me that an 11-year-old actually still believes in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny (really? I didn't think ANY kids actually believed in the Easter bunny!), etc. This isn't something that just "happens;" belief at that age requires active deception on the part of the parents, reassurances of the reality, at the very least secretly playing the part of the mythical creatures. So it's not cruel to stop playing the part and allow your child to see the truth; it's cruel not to. I can't imagine being told at age 12 that my parents had been intentionally deceiving me my whole life. And if they gave me some crappy excuse about wanting to "allow me to experience the magic," I seriously might throw up. On the other hand, I can't imagine still believe at age 11 even if my parents reassured me it was true. I have a brain and was taught how to use it. Surely with all the critical thinking skills being taught in the WTM crowd, that would prevent this problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn- Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 The tooth fairy was caught red handed by my 11yo DD last summer. Since the TF was out, I ripped off the bandage to the rest of the mythical creatures a couple of days later. She was fine about the Easter Bunny, but just couldn't believe what I was saying about Santa. Eventually she came around. She knows the TF/Easter Bunny/Santa only come to her as long as she keeps her mouth quiet to her younger brothers. Considering she is "dentally immature" and still has 10-11 teeth left to go, she is keeping mum. As to being the worst TF, I definitely get to be in the running for that one. I can probably count on one hand how many times the TF showed up on the first night between all my kids. The worst one was when my older twin went two night with no visit and we determined the tooth must have been too dirty so he went to scrub it in the sink. Yep, it went straight down the drain. Luckily he is losing teeth like crazy so I just yanked another tooth out and the TF paid for both that night. His twin is completely jealous as he has only lost 2 teeth but his brother has lost 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lara in Colo Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I tell mine that the tooth fairy only does the first 8 teeth. This way my olders are out of the running, but the littles still get their turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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