Parents were tired of telling their kids to brush their teeth—one story made kids excited about brushing
Parents might find it hard to constantly nag their kids for finishing everyday tasks. So, some of them employ creative ideas to make parenting a little easier. One mom, Rachel Dickson, was tired of telling her kids to brush their teeth every single day. So she came up with an interesting twist to the Tooth Fairy story that would push the children to brush their teeth on their own without making a fuss. The mom, who goes by @midnightmomster on Threads, shared her version of the Tooth Fairy story with the platform. It received over 163,000 views.
"I told my kids that the Tooth Fairy collects teeth to recycle them, so she pays based on the quality of the tooth," Rachel shared. "A shiny, white, cavity-free molar is gonna bring in a lot more than a stained incisor." A tooth with cavities can't get money because the tooth fairy won't be able to recycle the tooth. "But she will leave toothbrush, flossers and toothpaste." The family also doesn't put the tooth under the pillow. They put it on the nightstand so the tooth fairy can examine it properly. "And the room must be clean for safety because she's self-employed, so there is no workers' comp." Rachel pointed out that the idea helped her parent "smart" not "hard."
"We made up bits and pieces of the story, as we went with the oldest with the intent to modify behavior. The Tooth Fairy gave them an incentive to brush their teeth and clean their rooms without a fight or fuss. They actually wanted to brush their teeth instead of having to force them to do it," the mom of four told Newsweek. "One of my kiddos would bite the toothbrush when I tried to brush his teeth and it was making it very hard to get them clean. So we came up with the recycling idea to encourage him to let us brush and floss his teeth and to explain why the Tooth Fairy wants to buy their teeth." Rachel told her kids that the teeth get recycled to make new teeth for babies. Her kids thought that the explanation made complete sense.
Parents appreciated the mom's idea in the comments section of the thread and shared their own stories. @stefaniyasd shared that she had enlisted help from Tooth Fairy and Santa to correct her kids' behavior for a long time now. "My kids got letters from both Santa and the Tooth Fairy with whatever was left for them. Santa would do a performance review for the year and suggest areas they could work on for next year, while the tooth fairy commented on their tooth care."
@keirstaplesfarms wrote, "I thought the Tooth Fairy was in a union with Santa. In our house, we also have the Clean-up Fairy (same union) who collects toys and books during Advent to take back to the North Pole to be cleaned up for Santa to take to other kids. Clean-up Fairy always leaves a thank you note and sometimes a little Advent gift (gingerbread house kit, Christmas craft activity) on Sunday mornings." @lindsdj2 joked, "We do something similar. Also, my oldest accidentally swallowed a tooth, so they only got half the amount due to an incomplete transaction."
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