Bargaining with the tooth fairy.

 

“I have money…I can buy it myself. I have 5 dollars”, was the expression I must have heard for the longest time. We, at home have been bombarded, torpedoed with those lines, for eternity to be. Nothing in the world that Richa needed was off limits after she got her $5 from the tooth fairy last year. 

She had received that from the tooth fairy for the cute letters she had written to her,for over a week, informing her that she had behaved as promised and then requesting, she be given what was fairly hers.

Obviously, the tooth fairy’s heart had melted like the softest wax there must have been..Wow! my little cutie was even taking the effort to write letters to me..and that too, LONG ones! (well..that cue was given to Richa by her Mom!..She had convinced her that it would certainly compel the tooth fairy!) Even if the 2 sentences of her’s had filled the whole page..the letter did seem LOOOONG!  It had left the tooth fairy yearning for more..So, she in turn left a note for Richa telling her to write more letters.

She had deserved every penny of that money, for that endeavor. And when she got up in the morning to look for her bounty.. I could see that she had cut short her dream, forced herself to wake up. Lo and behold…she found $5 under  her pillow. SO, true to the phrase..

“If my dreams are not fulfilled..reality better be better than my dreams!!”

Her letter was gone and her tooth gone too!

“Mama..what does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth?!”, she had wondered.

Why in the world would the tooth fairy be giving away precious money just to collect these broken tooth from children..what use could she be putting them to?!

I don’t remember what I had answered ..because, I couldn’t see any sense in what the tooth fairy was up to, myself!  Well..except for a couple of days peace to help Moms, withstand all the tantrums the kids put them through.

Last week..Richa announces..

“Mama..look I have a wiggly tooth!”, she tries hard to push that wiggly tooth out towards me.

“Do you think I still look beautiful Mama?!”, she asks me so spontaneously, so un-feigningly..holding her jaws together and putting up this guileless fake smile, showing off her 20.

“Yes..Richa!”, I replied honestly, “you are still the most beautiful …”

Then started her tantrums about eating. Her complaints .. she didn’t even want to eat her favorite bagel. Which I could understand. But, how would I get her to eat more than her usual Yogurt Rice…I reminded her .. that she needs to eat well to keep her body and mind growing..

“Oh…so the tooth fairy will be visiting you shortly!”, I said, hoping she would stop complaining.

“Mama, How many days will it take for the tooth to fall, from when it starts to wiggle?”, she asks.

“It takes 10 days Richa!”, almost telling her to leave her tooth alone.

“Mama, I am going write a letter to the tooth fairy, and ask her to give me $100”, she says with confidence.

I know we had read Silverlicious a few weeks back. She was surely a bold girl..but, didn’t realize it would rub off this much on Richa.

“What are you going to do with the $100 Richa?!”, I asked her.

“Do little kids even need $100? What can they do with all that money?”

“There are a lot of things to buy, Mama”, she replied.

“You know those lego toys…! Some of them need $100 to buy!”, she educates me.

These are the days I shamelessly take advantage of her innocence the most. No..I’m not going to shy away and paint myself this great mom..coz, luckily we don’t have any tooth fairies to impress. Do we?! In fact, considering the fee of the dentist..they don’t remain fairies..anymore. Do they?!

Every time she even thinks of throwing a tantrum..I remind her that the tooth fairy may decide against giving her, the $100 she so much desires.

Oh! what a torture!..for these kids. On one side they are expecting to get these gifts/presents from a fairy..and their parents are all out to ruin their plans.

In the next 2 days…the teeth started to wiggle much more. I guessed that she would be loosing that tooth in another day.

At bedtime Richa says

“Mama..I’m going to ask the tooth fairy to give me $7”

“Why Richa..? Why did you decide to ask for less?”, I ask her like it was me loosing out on that $93.

“Mama..$100 is too much for a little girl..like me!’, she says totally convinced with her decision.  Till date..it has been a mystery to me on why she had changed her mind. Maybe her Didis had talked her away from the idea or she had talked to her papa or some friend at school. Or, she just realized it on her own, I don’t know.

It was like I could see her mind..drift through all those changes. The moment of greed when she realized that she could somehow get the biggest amount she would ever know as a kid..that she wouldn’t have to depend on her parents for every little goody, she desired.

“Oh why do parents expect so much in return for simple requests!!” I could almost feel her sigh.

There was one time when she had to spend 2 nights in a row at a friend’s home. At first she was very excited about it..

“A nightout with my friend!!!”,..she had exclaimed.

By the second night she had expressed that she was done and wanted to go home..

When I had asked her..WHY?

“Its so difficult to be good, Mama!!”, she had explained it so simply.

Coming back to the present..Then there was this stage..

The dawn of reality…the realization that since she got $5,  last time..maybe she could get the tooth fairy to squeeze in another $2 now that she has grown up since the last time, the tooth fairy visited her. 

Inflation in CHILD LANGUAGE!!

Or, maybe she realized that she could never match the expectations of earning $100, the requirements for this was too much to for a kid, her size. She would never be able to keep up with it and she may end up loosing the $7 too!

The next day…she fell sick. So, she excused herself from the dance class…and when we returned…Papa announced.“

“Richa … lost her tooth!”

She proudly displayed her tiny tooth for everybody’s satisfaction and brought out her writing pad. She scribbled out her demands in the most polite manner

“Dear Tooth fairy,  I lost my tooth today. Could you give me $7 please!”

like the tooth fairy was her mind reader and would know all the things she had gone through to deserve the $7…not just the fact that she had lost the tooth.

Before the morning light could hit her..I woke up..tugging at Papa, reminding him about the money..He handed me a bill. I had just placed the bill and had taken the tooth away just a few seconds..when, she woke up like something startled her and looked under her pillow.

“Look Mama…the tooth fairy gave me $10!”