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My Turnby Felicia Tripp Folsom |
 |
From The Asian Reporter, V17, #50 (December 11, 2007), page 6.
My Life as the Tooth Fairy
Do your kids believe in the Tooth Fairy? Do your kids believe in Santa Claus? Do your kids believe in the Easter Bunny? Well, my five-year-old daughter believes in all three because stupid me created the illusion they exist. Why do I create so much work for myself?
For example, I go to great lengths to perpetuate the illusion that when my child goes to bed December 24, the cookies she baked and soy milk she set out will be gobbled up by Santa. Little does she know that Santa is Daddy Jamaal, because the truth in her world is that a pudgy short man with a white beard goes down our gas fireplace and delivers her special toy on Christmas.
Well, ladies and gentleman, I almost messed up the illusion that the Tooth Fairy existed when my daughter lost her first tooth. The night my daughter lost her first tooth, my husband put her to bed and, to be honest, I feel asleep before I could be the Tooth Fairy.
The next day, when my daughter woke up and saw her tooth still under the pillow, she burst into tears and the words "bad parent" kept creeping in my thoughts. How do I recover from this one? Thinking as quick as I could on my feet, I told her the Tooth Fairy stopped by our house at 8:00pm, and since she chose not to go to bed on time the Tooth Fairy decided to go onto the next house. I told my daughter that if she went to bed at her normal bedtime that night, the Tooth Fairy would try one more time to deliver her gift.
I couldn’t believe it, but my daughter actually bought the story. So that evening she brushed her teeth, put on her PJs and told me she needed to go to bed right away so the Tooth Fairy wouldn’t skip her room. Parents, if you want your kids to go to bed early, tell them the Tooth Fairy is coming at 8 o’clock and wow, your kid is in bed before you know it. We read our usual bedtime stories and she went straight to sleep.
Once my daughter was sound asleep, I went back in the room with a beautifully wrapped wooden doll set from my favorite toy store, Finnegan’s. The only thing I do not like about my favorite toy store is the lack of ethnic dolls, but that is another story. I finally found one after 20 minutes of searching and asking myself, "does this doll look ethnic?"
The next morning, my daughter woke up and she was very excited to see her beautiful wrapped gift from the Tooth Fairy. She came running downstairs and showed me her gift and said, "Mommy I must have been a really good girl because the Tooth Fairy gave me a big gift." I laughed and watched her open her present and thought to myself, "I guess I am an okay parent."
In my heart I believe a parent’s role is to provide the best childhood possible, and in my illusion that includes a little bit of make-believe like the Tooth Fairy. At the same time, I want my child to know she is lucky to have a roof over her head, food on the table, and two parents who love her. In exchange for her great life, she must give back to other children who do not have those basic necessities.
In return for providing a great childhood, I hope she becomes a well-adjusted adult and continues my tradition that the Tooth Fairy does exist.