Tooth fairy - truth revealed in year 1

[taurean]

My DD's Y1 class sometimes watch a story being read via a website and last week watched a story where it is revealed that the tooth fairy doesn't exist - it is in fact "Daddy".

It has caused some upset among the parents, especially as many of the class haven't lost any teeth yet and of course it doesn't take much to leap from tooth fairy to father xmas etc...

The school have said it's not ideal but the kids would soon hear such things in the playground...how would you feel?

[onimolap]

Very, very annoyed.

My yr1 DD brought home a tooth which fell out in school carefully sealed in a folded bit of paper with a superscription from the TA saying "FAO tooth fairy".

The older children in the school have been (AFAIK) really sweet about not spoiling the surprise for the little ones.

[taurean]

That's lovely!

Trying not to get too wound up as I'm sure it was a mistake just such a shame as children stay young and innocent for such a short amount of time - I don't think I was ready for the "magic" to go, let along my DD!

[Witchesbrew]

I once said something about the tooth fairy being your parents to my year 7 pupils. One of the boys genuinely had not sussed it, went home to question his parents about it. I was gutted to have been the one to spoil it for him but incredulous he hadn't found out by then.

[razors]

How awful :( can all the parents get together and deny it all - say it's on the telly so can't be true?

[taurean]

Might be worth trying! My response was "how silly, everyone knows the tooth fairy exists" but then 5/6 years olds are getting inquisitive. Just such a shame!

[DontCallMeBaby]

It's not the same as hearing it in the playground - an adult on a website, or a story, is an authority figure in a way their friends aren't (well, not all the time).

On a more positive note, some children may welcome it. DD was delighted when her friend told her the tooth fairy wasn't real, as she was petrified of her (the fairy, not her friend). She was really pleased to discover it was me sneaking about her bedroom in the dark, not some spooky little gnasher-nabbing pixie. She still believes in Santa a year later, just about - she has laid hints that she'd actually be quite happy if he turned out to be me as well.

[looblylu]

to follow on from DontCallMeBaby i was terrified of santa as a child because "he comes in your house like a burglar"!


OP, if you want to keep the magic alive just insist it was a silly story and that things in stories arent always true
ie: vampires/ghosts/whatever you'd had to assure her cant be under her bed as it doesnt exist!

I can see why you are a bit cross, its not the way you want your child to be told at all!

[Elibean]

Shame it was quite this young, but tbh...I think there is plenty of magic/mystery/wonder in the world available without the Tooth Fairy or even Santa.

I would never knowingly tell a myth-shattering story to a young child though - mine or someone else's - and I would be mildly irritated if the school showed a story like that.

But not to the point of major upset, at all.

[pinkgirlythoughts]

My class of year 2s all firmly believe in the tooth fairy, and have all sorts of weird and wonderful stories about just exactly what it is that she does with the teeth once they've been exchanged for money. I can't think of any child that young that's ever not believed in my class, in fact we go to great lengths when teeth fall out to wrap them up in tissue, then in plastic poly pockets, then sellotaped up, with a big note on the front saying 'X's tooth' so that parents don't accidentally throw it away! They're obviously going to find out soon enough anyway, I don't see any point in being the one to spoil the magic for them.

[dikkertjedap]

I think it is a pity and would feel a little upset in such a situation. I think that it is an important time in children's development where they really develop their imagination and 'tooth fairy', 'father christmas' etc help them with that.

[onimolap]

Elibean: I think the reason I would be so cross is not because of any great importance of the tooth fairy, but because the action of public unfrocking (?) is so insensitive to the wholly predictable upset it would cause.

[Elibean]

Yes, I agree, it was silly of the school to show that - makes me wonder if they'd checked out the content before screening it

Very predictable that it would upset a portion of parents, so why on earth they did it

[onimolap]

I've just looked back at OP and seen that it did say upset to parents!

I was rather assuming the upset was amongst the pupils. If the children were OK, then it's not a problem. I suspect however that not all would be.

[oldbeforetime]

I stopped the tooth fairy etc when my son was 5 when he said:

'Owls are nocturnal, as are foxes, this means they come round at night, therefore the easter bunny and the tooth fairy are also nocturnal'

And I thought what the hell am I doing, I'm teaching my son facts, and he is thinking complete rubbish are also facts.

[Elibean]

Ah, see, thats a logical little ds you have there - hard facts only

The dds, OTOH, seem to be capable of putting hard facts in one box and enjoying all sorts of fantasies in another - although I know dd1 (7) doesn't really believe either the tooth fairy or Santa, she just enjoys the rituals.

And,incidentally, seems to be more sensitive than the OPs school - because when she recognized the Santa coming to hand out pressies at the KS1 Xmas party last term, she whispered to me 'thats Richard who looks after the compost heap' but didn't say it to her still-believing friends. Doesn't say much for the sensitivity of the school, really.