so mondays are usually rough for a lot of people...including the little people i teach. however, when a little girl came in this morning with tears in her eyes i knew something was definitely more wrong than just a case of the mondays. she made eye contact and scream slash yelled, 'I CAUGHT HER!' i grabbed my chest and yelped back, 'caught whom!?' as one tear rolled down her cheek, she said, 'I CAUGHT MY MOMMY!' now i didn't know exactly what kind of nonsense i was getting myself into on this fine monday morning, but an episode of maury povich played out in my head and i took a huge gulp of coffee before responding. i pulled her aside and then said gently, 'you caught your mommy doing what?'...and then held my breath. she yelped, 'TAKING MY TOOTH FROM UNDER MY PILLOW!' about ten other 7 year old heads whipped around in our direction at this revelation and i wanted to yell, 'CODE RED, CODE RED! DAY RUINER AHEAD!' i then made a hand motion slash facial expression for the other kids to 'mind their business' (they smiled and got back to work.) i said calmly to her, 'so let me get this straight...you lost a tooth last night and put it under your pillow, and then you caught mommy trying to take it?' she was also visibly exhausted, so i could only deduce she spent the entire night like a 7 year old SPY ready to take on the tooth fairy. (probably had binoculars, camouflage, and stuff, too.)
the tears starting a flowin' when she responded, but stated that yes, she saw mommy taking the tooth. she also went on to tell me that she saw a dollar on the dresser in her mom's room and then when said mother got out of the shower the dollar disappeared. said mother told this unnamed 7 year old to then check under her pillow again and LOW AND BEHOLD there was a dollar there, but she knows it was the dollar from the dresser and she just DOESN'T KNOW WHY HER MOMMY WOULD STEAL HER TOOTH AND PUT A DOLLAR UNDER THERE INSTEAD OF THE TOOTH FAIRY. (oh boy.) so in my mind as she is spouting off the very traumatic (in her mind) events of the morning, i had to do some type of damage control here. this little girl not only still believed in the tooth fairy after 'catching' her mother taking the tooth, she thought her mother was a THIEF and couldn't understand why. (whew!) my wheels were spinning as i took another gulp of coffee and said, 'so sometimes the tooth fairy gets really busy and then mommies have to step in and help her out. your mommy probably didn't want to tell you that she talked to the tooth fairy somehow because she thought you wouldn't believe her. my guess is the tooth fairy reached out through text or something and asked her her help.' (text?) she stopped crying, nodded, and smiled.
meanwhile, an hour later i get an email from said mother frantically asking me if this unnamed 7 year old is 'okay' because she was SO MAD and UPSET this morning cause she caught her taking her tooth! i let her know that i got an EARFUL, but that i had a solution. i replied, 'send me your phone number and i will text you a message...rename me in your phone as the tooth fairy and show her the text when she gets home!' (she was SO appreciative.) so there i am during my lunch break drafting a message from the tooth fairy to this mother. i was chuckling to myself, as i have 2 degrees and 17 years experience in education...but could anything really have taught me what to 'do' in this situation? (nope.) the truth is, kids want to believe. believing allows their imaginations to soar beyond anything they could ever, well, imagine. a tiny fairy with wings that flies in, takes your tooth and leaves money in return? MAGIC. they probably go on to wonder where this fairy lives, what her house looks like, how many children she gets to visit each night, how she gets into each bedroom, what she actually looks like...and the list goes on. imagination is everything for kids. i know this because i am lucky enough to spend my days with children exploding with creativity, ingenuity, and wild imaginations...everyday. in turn, today as a teacher i transformed into a texting tooth fairy...and i wouldn't trade it for anything. monday morning in first grade for the win.
