Teeth Traditions

My son turned seven this week, and he is teething. I had ever before considered older kids as “teething” before, but that is certainly what is happening. He lost both of his top front teeth in the same week!

Most of the effects of an older child teething incorporate fun traditions, and my son is delighted to have lost his front teeth so he too can enjoy tooth fairy visits.

My son knows that I am the tooth fairy, but that does not mean I cannot have fun in the process.

First, our tooth fairy has a name: Theodosia T. Firefly. My tooth fairy when I was a child was Thaddeus T. Firefly. Theodosia is his daughter (“T” stands for “the”). Theodosia leaves notes and otherwise congratulates and encourages my son upon the tooth-money exchange. Although as a child I too knew Thaddeus’ real identity (his handwriting was as messy as my dad’s, after all), I loved the tradition and looked forward to the notes.

Then there is the tooth container. When a tooth is loose, Raisin walks the house with his miniature tooth container, just waiting to put his tooth inside of it. I cannot find the exact one that we have but here is a larger ones from Amazon (affiliate link).

Our tooth fairy does leave a small amount of money. To be honest, I’m not crazy about this part of the tradition, but it is fun to see the delight from my son over just one dollar!

Finally, as we are big readers, here are some of our favorite tooth stories! (Note: I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience.)

• The Berenstain Bears and the Tooth Fairy by Stan and Jan Berenstain. The Berenstain Bears are always a favorite for my kids! In this book, there is a discussion about how much money the tooth fairy left and how it may be different in different families.
• The Tooth Mouse by Susan Hood. Based on A French fairy tale, where a tooth mouse comes for lost teeth, the tooth mouse is about a little mouse who really wants the job.
• Loose Tooth by Lola M. Schaffer. This easy reader is low level for my strong reader, but having a loose tooth is always a fun story to enjoy so Raisin likes it.

So there you have it! A fun tooth fairy tradition, an adorable tooth container, and some favorite loose tooth books.

What do you when your children lose their teeth?

image by CreativeNature | depositphoto.com (affiliate link)