Did you ever forget to have the tooth fairy come when your child lost their teeth?

My parents stopped doing it for me after I called them on it at the ripe, old age of 5. With my little brother, they seemed to forget differently by not having coins on hand (because they liked to leave Susan B. Anthonys) Instead they’d leave him, $1 or $5 bills and even once (accidentally because it was dark) a $20! Then he expected big bucks each time a tooth was lost! I got jealous, but refrained from spoiling it for him. I think perhaps they secretly wanted to make up for my short-lived tooth fairy days.

If, when I have children, I forget, I suspect that I will make up a crazy elaborate story about her travel route being filled with detours or something. Then again, maybe they won’t believe the tooth fairy routine for very long, just as I did.

I remember having my parents forget, they’d come up with an excuse. She must have been busy, she’ll come tonight. Or I found it here on the floor, must have fell off the bed, lol. I always believed it.

Then when I was a tween I was in charge of being the tooth fairy for my brother. Except I was young and not good at it. I just couldn’t get it under his pillow without him waking up. I always claimed I was trying to steal his money, lol. I felt so bad everytime he woke up, like if he found out it would be my fault for ruining it for him.

@Beta_Orionis Five is about the time they figure it out, especially if they have older brothers and sisters, like my son did. I remember he started having his suspicions, and started setting these elaborate traps for the fairy! Never did catch her! But, when he was about 9 he started trying to turn the issue into a profit-making business. He’d pull teeth for cash flow (he was at that age where you can lose two a day!) and say they were worth more than a regular tooth because they were silver and ivory artifacts… LOL

@RedPowerLady Aw! Man, that is TOO MUCH RESPONSIBILITY to put on a kid! You should have gotten your self a second shift job so you wouldn’t have to do it!

Hahahahaha, my mom ALWAYS forgot! I persuaded her that it was so distressing that the “toothfairy” should give me an extra dollar every day she forgot. I made $25 bucks off a single tooth once. That was back in the DAY too! You could buy a lot of stuff with $25 then!

My parents never forgot (at least I don’t remember them ever forgetting it) and I would usually make it pretty obvious that I had lost a tooth since I wouldn’t stop talking about it. :P

I just remember sometimes getting 4 quarters instead of a dollar bill.

Ah, see, if you hadn’t lied to them about the Tooth Fairy it wouldn’t have been a problem.

I have forgotten… but my son has also knocked the quarters out from under his pillow, so we had a standing joke that whatever change he found around on the floor during the day was his “present” for losing his tooth.

But I didn’t tell him about the tooth fairy either, so I’m sure it wasn’t a disappointment. It was actually fun to have him collect random change the next day.

@mrentropy: Actually I heartily disagree. My mom never lied to me about the toothfairy. It was the same as with Santa Claus (I described that on that thread). We both knew it was a make-believe game, but it was a fun game so we played it. It only became un-fun, which I didn’t get stuff. I was a selfish little kid and I wanted my dang money!

@La_chica_gomela I was being sarcastic. I’m all in favor of fanciful characters.

@la_chica It was fun. If you read the story I wrote about my son trying to get mo money because of his silver and ivory artifacts, I forgot the end of the story. I said, “But I already PAID for those silver artifacts!” He says, “But YOU’RE not the tooth fairy, are you!” LOL!!

@Val123 Aw! Artifacts! That’s so adorable! Also, such a blunder! Kids are funny. It sounds a lot like things my younger brother did. He actually believed in Santa and the Tooth Fairy until he was about 12, because I tried really hard to dispel the truth of anything his school friends said. We ended up with an elaborate mythologies that around all proofs of their non-existence and that really I wish I could remember!

I pulled my loose teeth out as a little kid too, but not for profit. I just couldn’t stand them being vaguely loose for a long time.

@RedPowerLady Heh! I got to play Santa and The tooth fairy for my little brother as well. It helped that up until I was 15 we slept in the same room, but I remember the stress! Like my own mission impossible.

I forgot once and my daughter was incensed! She sat down and wrote the tooth fairy a note – that I have to this day – about how she HOPED that she could stop by ‘tonight and sign here X__________. and please don’t take the box I put the tooth in!’ It was a riot. I told her that the tooth fairy was so little and had a lot of responsibility, so that probably what happened was she couldn’t carry any more teeth that night. Her response? ‘Then she will get MY tooth first tonight, right?’ ‘Of course!’

When my daughter went to bed that night she said she was going to wait up to see the tooth fairy. Luckily, she did fall asleep, and I had to sneak in, get the box, take the tooth out, put the box back, get the note, sign it with my left hand (I drew a tooth and then put ‘fairy’) and put it back with a dollar without waking her. It was so fun though. I miss those days of innocence and happiness.

@autumn43 – too funny. I miss those days also.

Yes. I commented on that experience here.

@Beta_Orionis No…he knew I was the tooth fairy at that point, and he had a fairly good idea of what an “artifact” is! He’s pretty smart. He was just angling for money with his usual intelligent humor. :) He’s 22 now, and funny as all get out! If he lost a tooth today, somehow, I guarantee you he’d bring it to me with demand for money because it would now be considered an antique!

@autumn43 Oh, that is PRICELESS! Is she still really logical like that? Oh, I hope you saved that note…

@Val123 I didn’t think he still believed at that point and I figured he knew what an artifact was, but it is still quite adorable!

I’ve forgotten once or twice, and always pull the same, “Look, it fell under the bed!” or “You look under the bed while I look over here…” then plant the money on a dresser or something. I even have to do this for my ten year old, who knows the tooth fairy isn’t real. Her reasoning is that if we don’t keep it up, her little brothers will know it’s all a game.

@Val123 – I wish she was still logical like that! Hormones get in the way….

I have the note still – and she got the biggest kick out of when I found it again recently. And for whatever reason – I still have some of their baby teeth in my jewelry box. Probably should throw them out. It’s not like I am going to make a necklace out of them!

@autumn43: Don’t throw them out!!! I was really upset when I asked my mom about mine had she had “lost” them…whatever that means… (probably she threw them out)

I have them in a folder in my filing cabinet under “T.”

@autumn43 @La_chica_gomela @Jeruba My mom still has ALL of our baby teeth, in those tiny round plastic containers, cushioned by little pieces of foam.

I’ve been keeping the baby teeth, but didn’t label them well. I have a couple that could belong to either my daughter or my son. Sometimes I wonder why I’m keeping them and what I’ll ever do with them.

Clone them?

@Jeruba Can you extract DNA from teeth? I guess it’s theoretically possible…

The thought of cloning my children is utterly horrifying.

@MissAusten I am certainly not a proponent of such an idea. I find it horrifying as well.

yes…....

hangs head in shame

@lazydaisy Wasn’t it AWFUL Daisy?!

I once had my parents forget for a whole week! Eventually they came clean and said there wasn’t a tooth fairy.

Just because there is no tooth fairy doesn’t mean you can’t cash in on your teeth!! :)