A Year of Blogging: August 22, 2011

August 22 is 'National Tooth Fairy Day'. The Tooth Fairy is an American tradition. After a child loses one of their baby teeth, the Tooth Fairy comes in the middle of the night and takes the tooth away. She leaves a prize in it's place. The reward is usually money, but could be a little treasure as well. Since the tooth fairy comes every time you lose a baby tooth (or until you get wise to her), it's important for parents not to set the bar too high, especially if you have multiple children. You could go into the poor house leaving treasures! I have several friends who have children in the tooth-losing age. In the past few months, I've seen the question 'what's the going rate for teeth?' posted on Facebook a lot. Before long, Sydney will be there too. I am very glad I don't have to worry about the Tooth Fairy. It's hard enough keeping up with Santa & The Easter Bunny. My sister and I each had a 'tooth fairy box'. It was a round wooden box with a top that screwed on. You put your tooth in the box, and could either put it under your pillow or put it on your nightstand next to your bed. In the morning, the tooth was gone and a dollar bill was folded up into the box. Our Tooth Fairy also left a pack of sugarless gum, and crayons or coloring books or another similar 'treat'. We had a very generous Tooth Fairy. Some people believe the Tooth Fairy is a man. I don't. The Tooth Fairy is a female. She's a Fairy. I always envisioned her as this sweet, bubbly grandmother type- kind of like the Fairy Godmother in the animated version of 'Cinderella'. Apparently, the Tooth Fairy tradition started because losing a tooth can be traumatic for a young child. I don't remember being traumatized by losing my teeth as a child, but when I was 13 and had four perfectly good adult teeth ripped out of my head as the starting point for braces: THAT was upsetting!