Kiddies, I just received an email from Maria Gonzalez of San Diego, California. Maria writes: "Dear Grandmother Winsome, this morning our six-year-old son had an accident on his skateboard. He went into the street and crashed into a parked car, in the process losing several of his front teeth. Well, now he says he's putting all those teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy tonight. I told him that it only counts if a tooth falls out naturally. These missing teeth are due to his own inability on the skateboard, and he shouldn't be rewarded for incompetence. Besides, at a dollar a tooth, that would mean a loss of four dollars for my husband and me, and we just aren't willing to spend that kind of money on our children. Our son has been crying for the last hour, but we feel we aren't being unreasonable. What do you think?"
Sweetie, I totally understand and I don't think you and your husband are being unreasonable. Carelessness should not be rewarded. However, your son would have naturally lost those teeth eventually, and you'd be out the four dollars at some point. So why not tell him he can put just one of those teeth under his pillow tonight, but must wait on the others? Then if he's good and has no other accidents, you can allow him to put another of those teeth under his pillow once every other week. That way, you won't feel the loss in your pocketbook as much, and your son might learn to be more careful with his toys.
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