Mom Q&A: What to Say to 'Is the Tooth Fairy Real?'

How do you handle it when your kids start questioning the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny? 

I didn’t plan on doing the whole “fictional character” thing with my kids. It just sort of happened.  In fact, when I was pregnant with my first, I was kind of against the whole thing - Santa Claus, in particular. I remember finding out that Santa wasn’t real. It sucked. I didn’t necessarily want my kids to go through that same experience.

But it’s hard to not go that route. A friend of mine has never spoken to her children of Santa or large bunnies who come to hide eggs, or winged women who come to steal your teeth, but her son still wanted to write a letter to Santa this past Christmas.

They’re kind of ingrained in our society, and you can buck the trend or go with it, but one way or the other, one day, we are all going to face this question. “Mommy? Is the Tooth Fairy real?”

I suppose it’s easy to say, “Yes, honey, of course the Tooth Fairy is real!” and call it a day, but, my conscience doesn’t like it when I lie. Even to my kids. Also, I think that once that doubt has crept in, it’s not going anywhere.

So, I suppose that my answer to the question would be another question. “What do you think?” and then we would go from there.

Incidentally, my older daughter did ask me not long ago if Santa is real, and I did ask her for her thoughts on the matter. She said “Well....yes. I think he is. But I don’t think he delivers all the presents himself. That would be impossible.”  Obviously. 

I tabled the discussion at that point, without having given her my opinion at all. 

My hope is that, when the time comes, I’m able to explain the whole Santa/Tooth Fairy/Easter Bunny thing in a way that makes her happy to have been a part of it, and not sad that it’s over, and especially not angry at me for perpetuating the myth.  Like anything else, follow your gut. Find out what your child thinks, and then go with your own feelings about what to do next.

Now, just no one tell my 30 year old brother that Star Wars isn’t real, okay?