The article, "Curtain Up on Act II for the Tooth Fairy", by Bruce Feiler, published in The NewYork Times on December 9, 2011, is Bruce Feiler’s opinion about the tooth fairy of his tradition. He didn't believe in giving money for lost teeth to children. He said that if you give the money for lost teeth, why don’t you give the money for broken bones, excised tonsils or, God forbid, menstruation.
When Bruce’s daughter, Tybee, lost her first tooth, she worried about whether the tooth fairy would come or not. That’s what he didn’t like about the tooth fairy. He believes that the tooth fairy is just about money and money. Parents ask each other how much money they give to their children, and the children ask each other how much money they each get from the tooth fairy.
The older children get the more they understand that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist, and if big kids have younger siblings, it means the parents must ask them to lie to their siblings. It seems like the tooth fairy teaches the children about untruthfulness.
The tooth fairy, who exchanges money for children’s lost teeth has been a tradition in America for hundred of years. Many cultures developed different rituals about children’s lost teeth. Witches were believed to covet discarded teeth spells, children tossed their teeth onto the roof (Vietnam, Haiti), buried them with ancestors (New Guinea), fed them to mice (Mexico, Afghanistan), or burned them.
Nowadays in America, money is given not only for the first tooth that falls out first, but also covers every tooth. The author, Feiler, got suggestion from the parents on his Facebook and Twitter of what all modern parents do; for example, having their children deposit their baby teeth into a jar and claim to a coin. Some parents prefer to give a small gift, from nail polish to Hot Wheels, and an electric toothbrush. Feiler said, “One friend gave her daughter a prayer book with the admonition to always use her mouth for meaningful things, like good speech or worship. My favorite recommendation came from a friend who had the tooth fairy leave a pile of loose change, say $1.72, to both clean the mom’s bureau and teach her child math.”
In the end, because Bruce and his family love to travel around the world, he and his wife decided to give some foreign coins from many countries and to describe the charms from each country. He believes that giving their children some charms from other countries will teach them about the world and also likes the fact that they couldn’t spend the money any where. With that global theme, the tooth fairy is dead in their house.
In Indonesian culture, where I come from, when children lose their baby teeth, the parents tell them to toss their teeth onto the roof. The older people believe that if the children lose their lower tooth, they have to throw their tooth onto the ground, but if they lose their upper tooth, they have to throw their tooth onto the roof, so their replacement tooth will come out soon. Otherwise, If they throw their tooth in the opposite direction, their tooth replacement will never come out.
So, every time I lost my upper tooth, I threw my lost tooth onto the roof and when I lost my lower tooth, I threw my tooth onto the ground. This was what my grandmother told me.
When my son loses his first tooth in a few years, I will follow the American tradition, the tooth fairy. I don’t believe in lying to my son, so we’ll explain to him that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist, but this is fun to continue the tradition with the children, so he will understand about our cultures
Hi Aniul,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job on your summary. I like it very much. I like how you shared your Indonesia culture about children losing their teeth. I don't recall we have any tooth fairy tale in Vietnam culture. However, I used to put money under my children pillows when they lose their teeth even though I came from Vietnam. I followed the tooth fairy here because I enjoyed seeing their surprise when they found money under pillows.