Sam has had a loose tooth for quite some time. I, personally, was a tooth puller. The thing got loose and I was all over figuring out how to get it out of my mouth fast. Sam, on the other hand, was a prolonger. He wanted to keep that darn tooth in his mouth as long as possible.
Which left us plenty of time to discuss
The Tooth Fairy.
Sam insists that it is not real.
Which, of course, it isn't.
So why am I so upset and annoyed about this? Why do I care that my child doesn't believe in a fairy tale, a fantasy, a made-up concept?
I think it's because I'm sad that he isn't at all interested in
magic.
You know, magic.
He is such a realist, such a pragmatist, that he can't even believe in magic. He
won't. (Trust me, I tried.)
I've been thinking a
lot about why this bothers me. And I've figured it out.
It's about God.
I know,
for sure, that not believing in the Tooth Fairy will not necessarily lead to a lack of faith in God.
(After all, I know that there's no Tooth Fairy but I'm pretty confident about my belief in God._
But I think that is my worry. If he is so certain, so sure, so absolutely positive that The Tooth Fairy doesn't exist...how much harder will it be for me to convince him that there is a Holy One, that the God of my Ancestors is his God as well?
We talk about God all the time in my house. I want him to have a connection, a relationship, a
belief.
Is that too much to ask?
Sigh....this parenting thing is hard.
P.S. Here's what I had to say when
David lost his first tooth.
