mothers on the verge

The Small(er) One is close to losing her two front teeth and is terrifically excited at the prospect of crossing this latest Big Girl threshold. Firstborn, delighted she can parade her prior expertise in the tooth losing arena, has been dispensing knowledge at every available opportunity with the occasional scare story thrown in for good measure ("It only bleeds really badly for a little while, don't worry"). Yesterday Firstborn drew me to one side with a very serious expression on her face. "Mummy," she said. "I am in two minds about something." I raised my eyebrows: "Two minds? Really? About what?" "Well," she sighed dramatically. "I think I should be telling the truth about the tooth fairy." "The truth? Er, what do you mean?" I stuttered. "Well, Mummy, I know." She paused, "I know that the tooth fairy isn't real." "Rubbish!" I exclaimed, "Who told you such a ter...

Losing teeth is a major conversation topic in our house right now. This is because my 6-and-a-half-year-old daughter has not lost any yet, despite nearly all of her friends proudly sporting holes in their mouth. Assuming that at some point these baby teeth will depart (the front one is possibly wiggling, according to The Rabbit) I have started asking parents what the going rate is for the tooth fairy. Now when I was little (cue the squeaking rocking chair), I firmly remember getting a silver dollar for each tooth. And I felt at the time that was sizeable. Of course I assumed inflation would play some part in what today’s pay scale, but I had no idea by how much. Grab yourself a seat in your own rocker and read on. A child at her school got $20 for the first tooth. (And yes, this was verified with the mother.) Another got just $5 — of course that came along with a new Wii title as a bonus. (And I was assured she got $3 from then on. Right.) But $5? For a first tooth? How about for ever...