My son lost his first tooth during an afternoon at school on Tuesday. This may not sound exciting, but to us it was a monumental occasion – one that we’d been waiting for a long time. Since he’s the oldest, he gets to lead the way for all the growing up firsts … first fistfuls of mushy baby food, first words, first steps, first to start school, and now first lost tooth. The Tooth Fairy finally gets to make a stop at our house.
With any new experience comes a lot of questions. I expect those. What really intrigues me are the answers that the kids come up with. For example, what will the Tooth Fairy bring me when I leave my tooth under the pillow? Opinions vary. My oldest said $10. (!) My second oldest stated rather matter-of-fact that the Tooth Fairy always brings gold. Apparently he dresses all in green as well. I believe he’s got the Tooth Fairy mixed up with a Leprechaun. (Too bad because the gold would be nice.) Maybe the Tooth Fairy brings toys? Ummm… probably not.
Once we established that the Tooth Fairy probably wouldn’t fill our pockets with riches and leave presents under the bed… that left us to answer the question, so who is this Tooth Fairy anyway? I caught my two oldest locked in the middle of a heated debate over whether the Tooth Fairy was actually a boy or a girl. My immediate reaction, of course, was to settle the argument – the Tooth Fairy is a girl, just like all fairies. (Right?)
The kid persisted in his assertion that the Tooth Fairy is a boy and after I thought about it, I decided … Well, why the hell not? Who am I to reinforce gender stereotypes to my five-year old when fairies don’t even exist? We live in a world where we can be anything we want and I want to impress upon my kids imagination and creativity more than falling into predetermined roles. So then, why the heck can’t a boy have wings and collect teeth? It’s no more absurd than thinking a girl does it.
I guess I’m not a huge expert on the fairy world anyway. After all, there must be girl and boy fairies, right? Or else, how do we end up with baby fairies? But let’s save that conversation for a different day …. far, far, far from now.
Stephanie Ingram 
I think your son might be on to something. I mean, think about it! What girl would want to touch anything gross or gory like something that literally came out of your body? And who else but a boy would think of rewarding someone for loss of said part? Girls are more likely to cry with you and empathize when any kind of physical malady happens (no matter how short term it may be). Guys cheer for blood and scars and all things “tough”. Plus, didn’t The Rock recently play the tooth fairy in a movie? If he played the role, it must be so. I’m not gonna argue with that big guy. I’d much rather drool over him. š
You make a very good point, Kitt! It’s definitely the work of a boy, no doubt. I’d never really thought about it from that perspective but I guess the kid knew what he was talking about. lol And as for The Rock, yep, I agree with the drooling. š