It wasn’t Emily‘s first tooth she lost tonight. (If I’m not mistaken, it was her 4th. Okay, maybe 5th, and I haven’t been there for any of them. Fine, I’m a bad father.) But it was the first tooth I was there to witness coming out. It was one of her top incisors, and for her it was a rite of passage of sorts. As the two of us sat in front of the mirror twisting and pushing on it, I figured it would be no big deal for Emily. Boy, was I wrong. She gave that pesky tooth one last twist and then ran down the hallway, full of glee, shouting to her mommy. It took me right back to my early years and I remembered the elation I got when my chompers fell out.

I missed my daughter’s first few teeth falling out. The first one we managed to get very loose the night before she lost it. Then it fell out at school the next morning. My advice? Don’t let that happen to you. If you have the opportunity to share in this moment of joy with your child, find a way to make it happen. I’m not advocating the old string on the door knob trick…well okay, I guess I am. The short moment of pain you cause will be returned with a lifetime of invaluable memories.

One last point: No matter how much money the Tooth Fairy brings, your child will always have a friend who got more.

Need more about the Tooth Fairy?

Controlled experiments could include:

* Tell your parents a tooth has fallen out, but do not put it under the pillow.
* Tell them a tooth has fallen out, when in fact it has not.
* When a tooth falls out, put it under the pillow, but do not tell your parents.
* When a tooth falls out, do not tell your parents, and put the tooth in a different location instead.
* Put something other than a tooth under the pillow.
* Stay awake all night to see what transpires.

Read Adrian Barnett’s study of an apparently supernatural phenomenon and attempts to draw conclusions about it’s validity.