Having an almost 8 and 9 year old in the house, the real ugly truth for us is whether or not to believe in Santa. The other day my 9 year old asked me if the Tooth Fairy was real....she asked this in the middle of Sears Hardware. I just wanted some sandpaper! But there we were, in the middle of a store, having this important conversation.
She went on to tell me that a friend of hers at school asked HER mom about the Tooth Fairy and she not only told her the truth, she showed her all of her teeth. First off....gross. Do you save the teeth? We toss them here, it skeeves me out beyond belief. I have only one that was saved, my daughter's chipped tooth since it was "special." And don't even get me started on hair. I saved their first clippings but it wasn't my idea, trust me.
Okay, anyway....there I am in the middle of Sears between a rock and a hard place. If I say, "OF COURSE there is a Tooth Fairy" well then, I've called her friend's mom a liar! If I tell her the truth, I go home and cry over how big my babies have gotten. So I did what I thought was best and told her that yes, her friend was right.....we put the money under their pillow and take their tooth. This is the part where she gets very quiet. I can see her moving this around in her already very intelligent 9 year old brain.
Guess what comes next?? You betcha! The Santa/Easter Bunny conversation. It went something like this.....
Hailey: But the Easter Bunny and Santa are real? I think those have to be real!
Ella: Duh Hailey, of course they are real. Where would all that stuff come from?
(turns to me) You would NEVER lie to us, right Mommy??
Me: Of course not sweetie, Santa brings you all the presents! Santa is definitely real and if you don't believe, he won't bring you gifts!
And then there's the kicker....
Hailey: Yeah, Santa has to be real. It's not like Mommy and Daddy could give us all those presents, where would they get all that money?!?!
So I'm either a liar or I'm poor. *sigh* Thanks kids.
How old were your kids when they stopped believing? We want to keep the spirit alive for as long as we possibly can. And I told the girls that their younger brother is only 4 and we want him to believe in the Tooth Fairy so they have to keep this conversation hush hush.
I wonder if they will listen. I didn't. When I found out about Santa, I couldn't wait to ruin it for all my friends. Yup, I was that kid. I'm a lot nicer now I swear!
