I hope I didn’t destroy anyone’s childhood innocence

[Terabith]

The preschool I work at has had two power outages again. The first one was on St. Patrick’s Day and the story that the pre-k teacher gave and that spread is that the tricky leprechaun turned it off.  It went out again today and a couple of my kids were hysterical.  (There are also no windows in my room, so it’s very dark.) They were screaming that they didn’t want to see the leprechaun. I said, “Hey, I know it’s dark, but there’s no need to be scared.  We will use my phone light and go outside.  The leprechaun is just a pretend story that people like to tell but it’s not really real, so you don’t have to worry about running into him. It’s just a power outage and the lights will come on again in a bit.” 
 

Honestly, I don’t think any of them believe me about them not being real but they did repeat over and over “Miss Terabith says there’s nothing to be scared of and they aren’t real.”  I know a ton of parents and the other teachers are really into the leprechaun, but three year old panic attacks are no fun for anyone.  And one mom told me at pickup that her kid didn’t want to come to school for a couple days after the first outage because he was afraid of the leprechaun.  And another poor mom asked me if it was a real outage and I was like, yeah, no way would I pretend something so scary.  
 

So I hope nobody is terrified, either of the lights going out or traumatized by being told leprechauns aren’t real. 

[Emba]

I am all for making clear to kids which things are real and which are fun pretend stories, especially when the “fun” is not fun for them!

[Corraleno]

My stepfather once told my little brother, who was 4 or 5, that the Easter Bunny was 6' tall and when he snuck into a house in the middle of the night he would check to see if the kids were asleep, and he would eat the "bad" kids who were still awake. Little bro was absolutely terrified, which meant he couldn't get to sleep, which only increased the terror. And my stepfather thought the whole thing was hilarious.

WTF is wrong with people?? Do they not remember what it was like to be a little kid? Do they not remember being afraid of the dark? Why on earth would the very adults that tiny children trust to keep them safe purposely make them feel unsafe for "fun"? 

[Moonhawk]

Honestly, re "I hope I didn’t destroy anyone’s childhood innocence", you probably did more to preserve it. Scary stories, if not used to deter geniunely dangerous situations/acts by children, I think more quickly chip away at a child's wonder for the world. Scary stories taint the wonder and innocence with fear and distrust. Thanks for protecting them, even from an unnecessary scary story!

[athena1277]

If it was Santa or the Tooth Fairy, I would be upset with you.  The leprechaun thing is right up there with Elf on the Shelf.  I don’t like make believe people that do naughty things.  We don’t do either of those at our house.  

[rebcoola]

I think you handled it perfectly 

[Hilltopmom]

Yeah I told my 4th graders the leprechaun wasn’t real and they were shocked. They also believe in those elf on the shelf things. I’m not lying to 10 year olds who wear makeup and watch tik tok that that stuff is still real.

ETA- I didn’t mean to tell them about the leprechaun it just slipped out when they were asking why our room wasn’t trashed/ green etc this year.

I did not tell them the elf was fake- don’t need those parent calls!,

Edited March 29, 2023 by Hilltopmom

[dsmith]

You reminded me of the house I lived in growing up, and the leprechaun that used to live in the basement, according to my father. I was terrified of that damn leprechaun! But it kept us from finding our Christmas and birthday presents! I don't think I had the courage to go down there until I was 12 or so lol. I think you handled it just fine. 

[Terabith]

44 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

My stepfather once told my little brother, who was 4 or 5, that the Easter Bunny was 6' tall and when he snuck into a house in the middle of the night he would check to see if the kids were asleep, and he would eat the "bad" kids who were still awake. Little bro was absolutely terrified, which meant he couldn't get to sleep, which only increased the terror. And my stepfather thought the whole thing was hilarious.

WTF is wrong with people?? Do they not remember what it was like to be a little kid? Do they not remember being afraid of the dark? Why on earth would the very adults that tiny children trust to keep them safe purposely make them feel unsafe for "fun"? 

To be fair, none of the people who initially blamed the first power outage on the leprechaun intended it to be a scary story. They were trying to make it less scary by blaming a small character who brings treats.  That said, I find the whole leprechaun thing kinda ridiculous.  He comes in and messes up the room?  I nixed people dyeing the toilet water green because I knew how freaked out my kids were when the water was blue from cleanser once. But once it was clear the kids were scared of the leprechaun, I was like okay, I no longer have any patience with this.  Honestly, I struggle with Santa and the tooth fairy stories but I’m at least aware that most people don’t share my misgivings about imaginary characters.  

[PeterPan]

2 hours ago, Terabith said:

the story that the pre-k teacher gave and that spread is that the tricky leprechaun turned it off.

What kind of person goes around telling children that mean demons are out to get them? Substitute leprechaun with demon and there's no difference. She showed poor judgment and gave the children cause to be WORRIED when she should have been comforting them. Now you could have been more imaginative and told them Ms. T has a leprechaun friend who's NICER than that other teacher's leprechaun and he TAKES CARE of us. Or you could have had a unicorn who would spear the bad devil leprechaun (probably not a good plan) or a Pegasus to flap the leprechauns away. Or you could have made a prayer in whatever faith the school might have. Or you could have said that bad leprechauns are scared away by happy children and that they should tell jokes and laugh.

Some people are just screwed in the head. Good for you for being a voice of CALM.

[El...]

Do these little kids do the group-dynamic thing where one of them can freak the rest out?  My DD has always been a wonderful method actor.  😜 Once I saw her talk herself right into genuine tears, telling herself a story!  And I stopped her a few times, at 5 or so, from freaking her little brother out; he'd believe everything she said.  So I wonder if the other teacher was just being cute, and a few dramatic kids led the group into trauma.  

Anyway, no leprechauns over here!  I can't deal with all that.

[MercyA]

Poor kiddos! You did the right thing. 

I have the unpopular opinion that no one should be lying to kids about any of this stuff. There's plenty of fun to be had in life and on holidays without it.

[Terabith]

9 minutes ago, El... said:

Do these little kids do the group-dynamic thing where one of them can freak the rest out?  My DD has always been a wonderful method actor.  😜 Once I saw her talk herself right into genuine tears, telling herself a story!  And I stopped her a few times, at 5 or so, from freaking her little brother out; he'd believe everything she said.  So I wonder if the other teacher was just being cute, and a few dramatic kids led the group into trauma.  

Anyway, no leprechauns over here!  I can't deal with all that.

No, not really.  My most anxious in general kid wasn't any more freaked out by sudden pitch blackness than he is by a runny nose, so that was nice.  

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

To be fair, none of the people who initially blamed the first power outage on the leprechaun intended it to be a scary story. They were trying to make it less scary by blaming a small character who brings treats.  That said, I find the whole leprechaun thing kinda ridiculous.  He comes in and messes up the room?  I nixed people dyeing the toilet water green because I knew how freaked out my kids were when the water was blue from cleanser once. But once it was clear the kids were scared of the leprechaun, I was like okay, I no longer have any patience with this.  Honestly, I struggle with Santa and the tooth fairy stories but I’m at least aware that most people don’t share my misgivings about imaginary characters.  

I'm opposed in principle to telling young children that there are creatures they can't see or hear who can come into the child's personal (and supposedly safe) space without the child's knowledge, and the child has no control or say about it. Being repeatedly told as a child that Santa can see everything every child does and "knows when they're being bad or good" creeped me the hell out — some guy living thousands of miles away can see me when I'm in the bathtub and watch me while I sleep? And if he sees me do anything wrong, anywhere anytime, he can punish me? I realize most people don't look at it that way, but if you break it down, it's really pretty creepy.

Even though I always told my kids that Santa and the Easter Bunny were fictional characters from fun stories, DD really wanted to do the Tooth Fairy thing because all her little friends were doing it (plus what kid doesn't want free money, lol), so we did the Tooth Fairy thing with a wink and a nod. And actually the Tooth Fairy doesn't bother me as much, because she doesn't keep kids under constant surveillance or play tricks on them or come into their space without permission — she only comes if children specifically invite her into their space, and she's never associated with tricks or punishment.

[Heartstrings]

One advantage to homeschooling is being able to preserve the fun of things like the Elf or Leprechaun without having to do the whole shebang.   Our Elf is allowed to be touched and played with, because I’m not enforcing a No Touch rule.   He also just moves and occasionally leaves notes.  No mischief, no treats.   We make a leprechaun trap thanks to You Tube 🙄 but he always gets away. He leaves treats for building such a good trap and almost catching him though.  No mischief, although green milk has been known to happen in response to being so close to his magic.  
 

If I could go back I would have made clear from day 1 that Santa, et al. were stories and not real.   I don’t like the lying, which I didn’t anticipate or consider as a young mom.   I try to keep it all light, no using Santa as a threat, I don’t bring up the surveillance stuff, although it’s in the books and movies.  I try to deemphasize the negative parts.   

Edited March 29, 2023 by Heartstrings

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

2 hours ago, Hilltopmom said:

Yeah I told my 4th graders the leprechaun wasn’t real and they were shocked. They also believe in those elf on the shelf things. I’m not lying to 10 year olds who wear makeup and watch tik tok that that stuff is still real.

My ten year old still believes in Santa and leprechauns.  She and DS7 were making really elaborate leprechaun traps this year.

in our house the tricky leprechaun leaves gold wrapped chocolate coins, not tricks.

[bookbard]

Another interesting American custom - we don't do any leprechaun things in Australia and this thread is the first I've heard of it. I wonder what happens in the UK/Ireland? We do generally have tooth fairy/Santa Claus, but Valentine's Day isn't much of anything here (and definitely not in schools). The only really weird school-based custom that I've seen here is around the horse race, the Melbourne Cup; our preschool once did a themed day around it and I was really shocked. There's been more criticism of it lately (more around horse welfare than promoting gambling) so I don't know whether they still do it.

[LaughingCat]

10 minutes ago, bookbard said:

Another interesting American custom - we don't do any leprechaun things in Australia and this thread is the first I've heard of it. I wonder what happens in the UK/Ireland? We do generally have tooth fairy/Santa Claus, but Valentine's Day isn't much of anything here (and definitely not in schools). The only really weird school-based custom that I've seen here is around the horse race, the Melbourne Cup; our preschool once did a themed day around it and I was really shocked. There's been more criticism of it lately (more around horse welfare than promoting gambling) so I don't know whether they still do it.

I'm in the US, my youngest daughter is 14 -- and I never heard of this leprechaun thing until this thread.  

[WildflowerMom]

I didn't know people even did leprechaun stuff.   I've never heard of anything like that.   I know it's Irish folklore, but never heard anything about it here growing up (I'm in Deep South).

[Corraleno]

2 minutes ago, bookbard said:

Another interesting American custom - we don't do any leprechaun things in Australia and this thread is the first I've heard of it. I wonder what happens in the UK/Ireland? 

I grew up in an Irish Catholic family (grandfather was born there & my family stayed in touch with many relatives there), and I never heard of the leprechaun trap thing until very recently. They don't do it in Ireland. St Patrick's Day parades and green beer are also American inventions. I think it's pretty bizarre that the anniversary of the death of a 5th century Catholic saint somehow became a secular American holiday, but I guess American businesses can commercialize pretty much anything!

[Terabith]

So, the leprechaun thing is moderately recent, I think?  Like Elf on the Shelf.  It wasn't a thing when I was a kid, and my kids homeschooled until 3rd and 4th grades, and it wasn't a thing at least at those ages in the Catholic school they went to.  

Actually, I take that back, when my youngest was in preschool, they did the leprechaun thing but she thought it was beyond stupid even at 4 or so, but I think it was more of a thing that was done by her preschool teacher and not a school wide affair.  We certainly weren't doing leprechauns when I last taught six years ago in my preschool class then, but it's exploded in the last few years apparently.  

Interestingly my husband's grandmother who was born in Ireland, 100% believed in leprechauns all through her adulthood.  

[KungFuPanda]

My husband convinced my kids that my family was half leprechaun. He told them is was why we were all short and had red hair. I could’ve used @Terabith’s assistance back then. 

[Spryte]

3 hours ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

My ten year old still believes in Santa and leprechauns.  She and DS7 were making really elaborate leprechaun traps this year.

in our house the tricky leprechaun leaves gold wrapped chocolate coins, not tricks.

I have one of those, too. She still believes. I’m so ready for this to be over, and wish I had not started.

The leprechaun thing seems to have gotten its start in classrooms studying simple machines. Inclines, pulleys, etc, at least on YouTube 14 years ago or so. Some basic simple machine study would turn into “make a trap using one type of simple machine.” That was all fine and dandy once or twice but with multiple kids, ugh. 

[vonfirmath]

8 hours ago, Terabith said:

The preschool I work at has had two power outages again. The first one was on St. Patrick’s Day and the story that the pre-k teacher gave and that spread is that the tricky leprechaun turned it off.  It went out again today and a couple of my kids were hysterical.  (There are also no windows in my room, so it’s very dark.) They were screaming that they didn’t want to see the leprechaun. I said, “Hey, I know it’s dark, but there’s no need to be scared.  We will use my phone light and go outside.  The leprechaun is just a pretend story that people like to tell but it’s not really real, so you don’t have to worry about running into him. It’s just a power outage and the lights will come on again in a bit.” 
 

Honestly, I don’t think any of them believe me about them not being real but they did repeat over and over “Miss Terabith says there’s nothing to be scared of and they aren’t real.”  I know a ton of parents and the other teachers are really into the leprechaun, but three year old panic attacks are no fun for anyone.  And one mom told me at pickup that her kid didn’t want to come to school for a couple days after the first outage because he was afraid of the leprechaun.  And another poor mom asked me if it was a real outage and I was like, yeah, no way would I pretend something so scary.  
 

So I hope nobody is terrified, either of the lights going out or traumatized by being told leprechauns aren’t real. 

After the first time the lights went out at school (preK or K. I forget) and my daughter was terrified of the dark, I sent a flashlight to school with her for YEARS -- so she could keep it in her backpack and it comforted her. (A cheap flashlight that I would not care if it got lost)  It got used a couple of times.

 

We would not have appreciated a leprechaun story.

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by vonfirmath

[vonfirmath]

3 hours ago, LaughingCat said:

I'm in the US, my youngest daughter is 14 -- and I never heard of this leprechaun thing until this thread.  

I had heard faintly of "Leprechaun traps" but had NO idea there was an imaginary leprechaun like Santa and the Easter Bunny!

[vonfirmath]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

I have one of those, too. She still believes. I’m so ready for this to be over, and wish I had not started.

The leprechaun thing seems to have gotten its start in classrooms studying simple machines. Inclines, pulleys, etc, at least on YouTube 14 years ago or so. Some basic simple machine study would turn into “make a trap using one type of simple machine.” That was all fine and dandy once or twice but with multiple kids, ugh. 

We didn't play santa at all with our kids. (We DID think through the consequences of lying to our kids and both of us agreed we didn't want to start). But our kids still insisted he was real for a year or two without any reinforcement at home.

 

[Heartstrings]

4 hours ago, bookbard said:

Another interesting American custom - we don't do any leprechaun things in Australia and this thread is the first I've heard of it. I wonder what happens in the UK/Ireland? We do generally have tooth fairy/Santa Claus, but Valentine's Day isn't much of anything here (and definitely not in schools). The only really weird school-based custom that I've seen here is around the horse race, the Melbourne Cup; our preschool once did a themed day around it and I was really shocked. There's been more criticism of it lately (more around horse welfare than promoting gambling) so I don't know whether they still do it.

The leprechaun is newish.  My 7 year old knows about it from You Tube, but it wasn’t a thing with my 14 year old.  Personally, I blame Pinterest and Instagram.  All those over the top moms creating things to take pics of for their Instagram have created this and now we all have to do it.  

Edited March 30, 2023 by Heartstrings

[El...]

22 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

After the first time the lights went out at school (preK or K. I forget) and my daughter was terrified of the dark, I sent a flashlight to school with her for YEARS -- so she could keep it in her backpack and it comforted her. (A cheap flashlight that I would not care if it got lost)  It got used a couple of times.

 

We would not have appreciated a leprechaun story.

 

I think that was a smart way to handle the fear, to provide her a tool. Rock on, well-equipped kiddo. 

[Scarlett]

My mother  told 5 year old me that if I put salt on a birds tail I could catch it. I ran around our yard for a long time trying to get salt on a birds tail. 

She thinks it wasn’t a lie because hey if I could get salt on a birds tail I should be able to catch it.  

I’m still mad about it.  

[Melissa in Australia]

Never heard of it

 

My dh, however had heinzelmannchen

( No idea how to spell it) 

He had German parents. Not exactly sure what they are but apparently  they are responsible for breaking plates and leaving doors opened

[Matryoshka]

4 hours ago, LaughingCat said:

I'm in the US, my youngest daughter is 14 -- and I never heard of this leprechaun thing until this thread.  

Me neither. And I live in a very Irish part of the country that really does up St Pat's day. But leprechauns? Just why? I mean, sure, on decorations for fun, but pretending they're real? Who/ where does that?  Literally never heard of such a thing.   I mean, outside of medieval fairy stories. 

And Elf on the Shelf is creepy as heck. 

[Drama Llama]

We've done leprechauns, in the sense that we've made traps and died toilets green.  But I was today years old when I learned that some people want their kids to believe in them, as opposed to presenting it as a fun game.  

 

[Tap]

I know that leprechaun traps were alive an well at least 16 years ago. I remember them in my 16yos daycare, back when she was in the baby room. I didn't know what it was, until she was old enough to participate and got upset when she forgot to make her trap one night. And then getting upset that he might come in an cause trouble. 

Funny thing about it to me.....These teachers aren't trying to scare the kids. They only talk about them being mischievous and trying to make messes. The lore around fairies is similar and kids aren't generally afraid of fairies. There is just something scary about leprechauns  to little kids. I don't know it if is the way they look, or the imagery that they use on adult advertisements that the kids see and get scared about???? 

[pinball]

8 hours ago, Heartstrings said:

The leprechaun is newish.  My 7 year old knows about it from You Tube, but it wasn’t a thing with my 14 year old.  Personally, I blame Pinterest and Instagram.  All those over the top moms creating things to take pics of for their Instagram have created this and now we all have to do it.  

No, no one is required to do anything they see in the internet, including moms and daycare workers.

[Indigo Blue]

I’ve never heard of this. Sounds weird. 

[HomeAgain]

16 hours ago, Corraleno said:

My stepfather once told my little brother, who was 4 or 5, that the Easter Bunny was 6' tall and when he snuck into a house in the middle of the night he would check to see if the kids were asleep, and he would eat the "bad" kids who were still awake. Little bro was absolutely terrified, which meant he couldn't get to sleep, which only increased the terror. And my stepfather thought the whole thing was hilarious.

WTF is wrong with people?? Do they not remember what it was like to be a little kid? Do they not remember being afraid of the dark? Why on earth would the very adults that tiny children trust to keep them safe purposely make them feel unsafe for "fun"? 

My kid had only seen the Easter Bunny at the mall photo booth.  He didn't go up to it, but he saw it. We taught him the story of Easter.  Easter eve, I had a kid terrified that the Easter Bunny killed Christ and was coming after us next.

We switched to the story of the Country Bunny and the Golden Shoes, which is a lovely story of a single mom rabbit working to become one of 5 Easter Bunnies, AND we began the tradition of leaving the baskets outside the triple locked front door.

 

As a parent, I would have been very grateful if a teacher explained the leprechaun was just a game to help ease fears.  We didn't participate in Elf on the Shelf because my youngest would have been so anxious about the thing that it would have been a detriment. The Leprechaun game would have sent him through the roof.

[fairfarmhand]

13 hours ago, LaughingCat said:

I'm in the US, my youngest daughter is 14 -- and I never heard of this leprechaun thing until this thread.  

Same

[MercyA]

15 hours ago, Corraleno said:

Being repeatedly told as a child that Santa can see everything every child does and "knows when they're being bad or good" creeped me the hell out — some guy living thousands of miles away can see me when I'm in the bathtub and watch me while I sleep? And if he sees me do anything wrong, anywhere anytime, he can punish me? I realize most people don't look at it that way, but if you break it down, it's really pretty creepy.

YES. We have a picture of me being carried crying from the bathroom at my grandma's house on Christmas. My grandpa had dressed up like Santa and I ran to the bathtub to hide. 😞 Everyone jokes about the picture (me included), but I was probably seriously terrified.

This shirt from Tee Turtle sums it up pretty well, I think.

[SKL]

Yeah the green guy thing is not something I grew up with.

Tots are so funny.  Once my little sister whispered in someone's ear, and I told her I could hear the secret come out the other ear.  For years, she covered people's other ear when she told secrets.  😛  Now I'm wondering how much permanent mental damage I'm responsible for.  😛

[marbel]

This has to be a hard thing for schools to balance. I mean, what do I know, I went to school in the dark ages and homeschooled my kids, so I really don't know what I'm talking about. 

So I sorta believe that public schools should teach *about* different holidays but not really celebrate them. So explain about the *idea* of leprechauns and traps and such, and that it is a fun tradition that some people have. Of course that's hard because then you have people complaining that the school broke their kid's heart by telling them that Santa is a fun tradition but not real... so yeah, must be hard to deal with. And theme parties can be fun, though I do remember hating Valentine's Day at school, having to pass out random valentines to all the kids whether I liked them or not, knowing that people who didn't like me were forced to do the same.

I had heard of leprechaun traps from seeing my nieces post about setting them up with their kids. I think it's cute but wouldn't have done it with my kids because I just wasn't that mom. I failed as the tooth fairy, so my younger kid organized her own visits after I forgot with her first few teeth. 🤦‍♀️

 

[rebcoola]

The leprechaun thing has been growing over the last 20 years it seems like the most popular books  that come up now when I searched St Patricks day  were all about building traps and tricky leprechauns.  Which I think can be fun but really the kids still have fun when they know things are pretend.

[Ellie]

16 hours ago, LaughingCat said:

I'm in the US, my youngest daughter is 14 -- and I never heard of this leprechaun thing until this thread.  

My children were born in the 70s, and I never heard of this until this thread, either.

[Drama Llama]

3 hours ago, MercyA said:

YES. We have a picture of me being carried crying from the bathroom at my grandma's house on Christmas. My grandpa had dressed up like Santa and I ran to the bathtub to hide. 😞 Everyone jokes about the picture (me included), but I was probably seriously terrified.

This shirt from Tee Turtle sums it up pretty well, I think.

OMG this might be our Christmas PJ tshirt for next year.

[DawnM]

I would be grateful you told my child it wasn't real if he was scared.

[MercyA]

1 hour ago, marbel said:

So I sorta believe that public schools should teach *about* different holidays but not really celebrate them. So explain about the *idea* of leprechauns and traps and such, and that it is a fun tradition that some people have.

I agree. Gail Gibbons has some great picture books about holidays traditions. 

[Terabith]

Well, I am pretty sure the kids didn’t believe me about them not being real because today they were asking if the leprechaun was going to steal another light bulb.  Poor kids.  

[teachermom2834]

This is definitely a recent thing. I heard of it for the first time at a homeschool co-op for my now 9th grader when she was in 2nd or 3rd grade but never heard of it for my three older boys who went to various classes with a variety of teachers.

We moved when my youngest was 7 yo and when I tried to get involved with some activities for her I was blown away by how extra every thing was. (If you have older kids have you seen what has happened to receptacles for collecting Valentines cards?). I think I had leprechaun shock a month after Valentine trauma and decided I was a washed up old mom and not going to keep up. Seriously my oldest and youngest are ten years apart and the difference in expectations for all those things in ten years is dramatic. 
 

But of course no one needs to play along. We pretty much did not. My dd tells people she didn’t have Elf on the Shelf and they feel sorry for her but she is glad because she is the kid that finds that totally creepy. 
 

We have this “Sorry, Old Mom” or “Lucky, Old Mom” thing we say when we justify something we are doing that is outside the norm for her peers. I’m not really an old mom for her peer group but she has much older siblings so it feels that way. Sometimes she is missing out on some cultural experience unique to her peer group or sometimes she is benefiting by having a mom doing things a different way. 

[*****]

I don't think you ruined anything for the kids. But I would have flashlights or a battery operated lamp in the class in case the power goes out again. It sounds like the room could get pretty dark. Knowing there are flashlights may help the kids to be more relaxed.  

[happi duck]

I became a public school teacher in 1988 and the school where I taught already had a long standing leprechaun tradition.

I always take an "isn't fun to pretend?" approach which doesn't seem to step on parents ' toes.

[Corraleno]

4 hours ago, marbel said:

 I failed as the tooth fairy, so my younger kid organized her own visits after I forgot with her first few teeth. 🤦‍♀️

I failed the first time too, but it turned into the best possible story:

The first night DD put her tooth under the pillow, I totally forgot about it and she came into the kitchen the next morning crying. I was trying to make excuses... "maybe it was just a super busy night and the tooth fairy had too many houses to get to in one night, if you try again tonight I bet you'll be at the top of the list, blah blah blah..." A few minutes later DS yells "Hey [DD], come here, she didn't forget you, it's right here behind the mattress!" So DD goes running into her room, with me following behind, totally confused. DD looks behind the mattress where DS is pointing... and pulls out money and a little note from the tooth fairy, full of misspellings and written in glitter crayon.