photo by aka_kath
Curious what the going rate is for a lost tooth? Fortunately, she’s not giving cars yet, but I’ve discovered the tooth fairy I know is pretty frugal compared to most. She’s been known to give loose change and even small snacks to my kids. Readers share creative ways to celebrate the tooth-fairy tradition. Don’t have loose change or dollar bills? Not a problem: Print a tooth-fairy check from tooth-fairy city. If you have a creative story, let me know.
TOOTH-FAIRY PILLOW: My grandmother made a tooth-fairy pillow for me. It had a pocket made out of lace and snapped shut to hold the tooth. She stitched my name on it. I used it for every tooth I lost, and each tooth netted me $5. My kids didn’t have tooth pillows. They usually left a note and the tooth for the tooth fairy, and in return they got $5 per tooth. — Neeley, e-mail
GOLDEN COINS: We gave $1. We kept a stash of the Sacagawea dollars around. The boys loved them. They are also handy for when you forget to put it under their pillow and you are pretending to look around to see if the dollar (that the bad, bad tooth fairy really forgot to leave) fell off the bed. — Zakity, Oregon
DO NOT DISTURB: When my daughter lost her first tooth, she lost it when she was bumped in the hallway at school. She was VERY concerned that the tooth fairy wouldn’t come. She was also concerned that if she did come, she would feel under the pillow and find nothing and go away. So she had a little treasure chest that she had made at a birthday party. We took the chest, wrote a note to the fairy explaining the situation and put it on the floor outside her door. That way, the tooth fairy would be able to see the note before going into Julia’s room. Lo and behold, the next morning, the note was gone, but there was sparkle fairy dust on the floor with tiny little footprints in it and a dollar bill. Since then, with the other teeth she’s lost, she likes to have the treasure chest outside the door. She’s not really a fan of intruders into her room. — Amy B., New Jersey
TEACHABLE MOMENT: The tooth fairy always leaves a note with the money she gives. She discusses things that are going on right now with the child. In the letter, she might ask if the child likes the new movie that he or she rented, if the child is looking forward to an event coming up, a congratulations on a good grade, etc. Several times the tooth fairy has mentioned the messiness of the child’s bedroom and how difficult it makes the tooth fairy’s job. The tooth fairy has actually hurt herself in my daughter’s room because of my daughter’s mounds of stuff in her bedroom. The tooth fairy’s notes have always brought laughter and curiosity to my home, and I’ll miss her when there’s no need for her anymore. She’s done some good work here. — Pam, e-mail
GEOGRAPHY LESSON: At our house, the tooth fairy brings coins from other countries. She bought a snack-sized baggie full from eBay for about $5. My son usually gets three foreign coins and a state quarter. He has two maps hung up in his room — a world map and a U.S. map. My son puts a sticker on the flag of the country/state that the coin represents. It has become a great, fun geography lesson. — Georgiamama, Georgia
CHEERS: Back when the tooth fairy used to visit our house (I can’t believe it’s been awhile), the kids used to put the tooth in a glass of water, and, in the morning, there would be four quarters in the glass. It saved us from having to resort to dollar bills. My mom did this when we were growing up, but we just got a quarter. — Jamie, Kansas
译文:
“牙仙”的小贴士与传说
由aka_kath摄影
很好奇，现在掉一颗牙值多少钱呢？ 幸亏，牙仙还没有用车来做回报呀，不过我已经发现我所知道的有关牙仙的传说和大多数人相比实在是少得可怜。对于我的孩子们而言，牙仙因为给他们零钱甚至小点心而著名。读者们分享着有创意的方法来庆祝有关牙仙传说的习俗。没有零钱和硬币吗？这不是问题——印一张来自tooth-fairy city的牙仙支票吧。如果你有一个很有创意的故事，快点告诉我吧。
牙仙枕头: 我的祖母为我做了个牙仙枕头。它有一个用蕾丝做的口袋，紧紧地扎着用来装（我的）牙齿。她在口袋上绣上我的名字。我用它来装我掉的每颗牙，每掉一颗，我就能得到5美金。我的孩子们没有牙仙枕头。他们通常给牙仙留下小纸条和牙齿，作为回报，孩子们每掉一颗牙，得到5美元。—— Neeley, 邮件
金币：我们给（孩子）1美元。我们到处藏着萨卡加维亚的硬币。孩子们喜欢这些。在你忘记把它们放在孩子们的枕头下面的时候，孩子们还是能轻易地找到硬币，而你就假装是在四处寻找滚落到床底下的钱（不称职的牙仙的确忘了留了）。——来自俄勒冈州的Zakity
请勿打扰：我女儿掉第一颗牙，是在她跌倒在学校的过道的时候。她很担心牙仙不会来。她也担心即使牙仙来了，她发现枕头底下什么也没有就离开了。所以女儿准备了一个小小的宝物箱，是她在生日聚会上做的。我们拿走了箱子，写了张小纸条向牙仙解释当时的状况，并把它放在女儿门外的地板上。那样的话，牙仙就能在进茱丽娅的房间之前先看到纸条了。第二天早上去看，纸条不见了，但是地板上有牙仙用小脚印留下的闪亮的仙尘和一元钱。自此以后，当女儿再掉牙的时候，她喜欢把宝物箱放在门外，她确实不喜欢有闯入者进房间打扰她。——来自新泽西州的Amy B.
教学时刻：牙仙总是留下纸条和钱。她在纸条里谈到孩子正在经历的事。在信里面，牙仙可能会问孩子是否喜欢他/她租的那部新电影，如果孩子正期盼着一件即将到来的大事，牙仙就会祝贺他取得好成绩等等。好几次牙仙（在信里）提到孩子的卧室很乱以致给牙仙的工作造成了困难。事实上，牙仙在我女儿的房间里已经受过伤了，因为我女儿的卧室里有一大堆衣物。牙仙留下的小伙子条总会给我的家带来欢笑与惊奇，当她不再有需要来的时候，我会想念她的。她在这儿做了不少有益的事。——Pam，邮件
地理课：在我们家，牙仙带来了其他国家的硬币。她花了大约5美元从易趣网买了一个点心大小的袋子。我的儿子通常能拿到3个外国的硬币和一个我们国家的硬币。在他房间的墙上挂着2张地图——一张世界地图和一张美国地图。我儿子给硬币所代表的那个国家的国旗上安一张贴纸。这已经变成一堂重要又有趣的地理课了。——来自乔治亚州的Georgiamama
欢呼：回想牙仙过去来拜访我们家的时候（我不敢相信这已经过去了），孩子们经常把牙齿放在一杯水里，到了早上，杯子里会有4个硬币。这就省得我们去找硬币了。在我们成长时，我的母亲是这么做的，不过，我们只得到一个硬币。——来自堪萨斯州的Jamie