Sometimes people believe in different things

I know sometimes people believe in different things and so long as they are causing no-harm, then that is okay.

A couple of nights ago Annie came out very excitedly to tell us that she had lost a tooth, we made all the appropriate ‘ooooh’ noises and Annie rushed off to get her tooth fairy basket.

Later on that evening Annie confided to me that she had not really lost a tooth, instead it was a piece of corn carefully tucked away inside her tooth fairy basket. Annie had a great plan to trick the tooth fairy in order to

A) Get more money
B) See if the tooth fairy was real

See lots of kids in her class have been discussing if Santa and the Tooth Fairy are real, the class is made up of children ranging from age 7-9yo and some have figured out the truth.

We’ve always been honest about Santa and I’ve tried to be honest about the Tooth Fairy and fairies in general, but Annie is not having a bar of my assertion that Fairies are not real, insisting there are fairies and I am lying.

This has proved to be a fantastic teaching tool for us as I’ve been able to talk to Annie about how ‘Sometimes people believe in different things’ – some people believe in Santa, some don’t, some people believe in fairies, some don’t, some people believe in God, some don’t. That so long as the persons belief is causing no harm then it is best to let them believe.

Annie gets teased for her strong belief in fairies, mostly by the boys, the girls at school seem to believe in fairies too. I worry that the teasing will get worse as she gets older.

I hope at least by teaching Annie now that it is okay for others to believe in something different to you, that she will be more accepting of these different beliefs.

Anyway, back to the Tooth Fairy – someone had suggested that the Tooth Fairy was just your Mum and I had further reinforced this by saying ‘oh the tooth fairy might be out of coins’ when Annie first announced she had lost a tooth. So there we were snuggled up about to start reading Anne of Green Gables and Annie is asking if I am the Tooth Fairy.

So I turned the question back to her ‘Do you think Mummy is the Tooth Fairy’ and Annie said I couldn’t possibly be because her teacher had seen the Tooth Fairy as a child and how could I be the Tooth Fairy when I couldn’t have been born when her teacher was a child.

YES! Logic for the win.

I’m still in two minds about the whole belief in fairy thing, it makes Annie so happy and brings magic to her world and I’ve got adult friends who believe in fairies, also she is only 8 and can’t she just enjoy the magic of fairies for now. I can’t prove they are *not* real. But it will single Annie out for teasing and I don’t like that. I also fear what will happen if she ever finds out that fairies are not real – will she hate me forever for ‘lying’ to her?

As for Annie wanting to make more money – we are discussing a chore chart, the more chores she does the more pocket money she can earn.

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