We explained the tradition of putting lost teeth in a tooth box under your pillow and having it replaced by money the following day.
Why, he asked, so innocently.
It's something parents decided to start doing to make it feel really special when kids lose their teeth, I explained. Sometimes people say there’s a little fairy, called the tooth fairy, that takes the lost tooth and leaves money behind. But that’s just a fun story. Really, it’s mommy and daddy that will leave the money under your pillow.
Explaining this to him, I thought the entire tradition might feel anticlimactic or unmagical or something along those lines. I was so wrong.
First thing in the morning, he ran into our room. He was ecstatic about the money under his pillow, grateful to Tharin and I, a child in the throes of a magical childhood memory through-and-through.
This Christmas I have seen all kinds of conversations popping up about Santa Claus and how we should respectfully approach this idea with our kids, and I thought I would talk about our approach.
When our first was a baby, Tharin and I spent a long time discussing how we would approach this tradition as a family. He had grown up believing in Santa Claus, having had it elaborately perpetuated by his parents, while my parents had been pretty straight-forward: they gave us the gifts, we were grateful to them, not some mythical figure.
I felt I would not be able to, in good consciousness, put such effort into having my children believe in Santa Claus. Having separate wrapping paper, eating cookies, leaving footprints on the roof, organizing the letter writing and receiving, it all just felt completely unnatural to me.
Explaining this to him, I thought the entire tradition might feel anticlimactic or unmagical or something along those lines. I was so wrong.
First thing in the morning, he ran into our room. He was ecstatic about the money under his pillow, grateful to Tharin and I, a child in the throes of a magical childhood memory through-and-through.
This Christmas I have seen all kinds of conversations popping up about Santa Claus and how we should respectfully approach this idea with our kids, and I thought I would talk about our approach.
When our first was a baby, Tharin and I spent a long time discussing how we would approach this tradition as a family. He had grown up believing in Santa Claus, having had it elaborately perpetuated by his parents, while my parents had been pretty straight-forward: they gave us the gifts, we were grateful to them, not some mythical figure.
I felt I would not be able to, in good consciousness, put such effort into having my children believe in Santa Claus. Having separate wrapping paper, eating cookies, leaving footprints on the roof, organizing the letter writing and receiving, it all just felt completely unnatural to me.
Ultimately we decided against being a Santa Claus family.
Here are our reasons.
