The living, the living—they praise you,
as I am doing today;
fathers tell their children
about your faithfulness.
as I am doing today;
fathers tell their children
about your faithfulness.
~Isaiah 38:19
My daughter just lost her thirteenth tooth. She is eight years old. Now, I am praising the Lord that we have somehow managed to keep the mystery of the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus alive. She will be nine next month. 'Believing' is all about the sweetness of imagination and the innocence of childhood.
As the verse says above, we are to praise Him and tell our children. If I leave nothing to my children, but the knowledge of Him, I have done well as a parent. So why do I care that my children believe in these fictitious characters? To me, the answer is simple...the innocence of childhood.
During a time, when 'childhood' seems to be stripped from our little boys and girls by images on TV or cartoon movies with 'adult humor,' somehow the Tooth Fairy doesn't seem so bad. She seems fun and sweet and helps children to dream and imagine. I believe the key is to never let the 'make believe' characters overshadow the loving and powerful image of God. Santa Claus is after all, the 'delivery boy' for Jesus...kind of like the UPS man (only he wears a red suit instead of a brown!) And the Tooth Fairy, well, she was made by God and is sent from heaven above!
My daughter wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy and placed it under her pillow. It read:
Dear Tooth Fairy,
How old are you? What is your favorite color? How tall are you? Where do you live? What is your hair color? Are you a girl or a boy? Are you small like tinker bell or big like me? If you have lost your teeth, then is it good to lose 13 teeth at age 8? Can you fly?
Do you know God?
Love, Ashlyn
The 'Tooth Fairy' answered these questions and sprinkled the letter with some fairy dust glitter and reminded Ashlyn to look at it and to remember how very much God loves her and wants to take care of His beloved Ashlyn. She took the fairy dust, put it in a bag and wrote on it, "Reminder: God loves me so much!"
~
What do you tell your children or grandchildren about these make believe characters? Have a wonderfully blessed week!
I am linking this to Spiritual Sundays!
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15 comments :
Believing in these is magical. Keep this alive as long as possible
Hi Christie! It is truly a treat to open up these posts you write! You are one gifted gal not only in how you decorate your home but how you are creating an environment for raising your children to love the Lord and to find joy in all that is around them! We have allowed our children to "believe" in these fun traditions and when our son has asked us whether or not they are real we just ask him what he thinks...so far he says "Yes, I think they are real"! They are not the emphasis but I agree with you that they preserve an innocence that is lost all too quickly in this culture. I am STUNNED by what I hear other kids talking about or listening to or watching these days. I could go off on a major soap-box trip here :-) so I will just say thank you for sharing how you are approaching these tough parenting years with faith and wisdom and trusting in the God who loves our little ones even more than we do!
Blessings to you my friend,
Vanessa
I teared up... what a sweet story. My oldest is a 9yr old boy who has yet to question any of these magical characters. I am enjoying what may be the last christmas that all of my children believe.
How adorable!! She asked some important questions didn't she? What a great Mom you are to answer them all and include some Fairy dust too!
I wanted to let you know that I'll be bragging about you on my blog tomorrow! I'll be featuring your fun Laboratory display on my Brag Monday post.
What a cute post! Brings back a lot of memories. I have a letter that my daughter wrote to the tooth fairy also. She was a little miffed because the tooth fairy had forgotten 2 nights in a row. She gave her a little talk! It's just so indicative of how she turned out, as a woman! Straight forward, not afraid to walk up to someone and very eloquently- give them a piece of her mind - if they need it! Have a great week! Sandi
Sandi...I have forgotten 2 nights in a row before,too! I told her that the Tooth Fairy must have been at the Tooth Fairy Convention held in Idaho each year! Being a parent means have a large imagination! Thanks for your sweet comments!
Very thoughtful. What I love is that as Christians we can do things so differently and yet love each other with the love of Christ. These types of issues are not about salvation and not worth having strong opinions about how others handle it. I say this because our family has chosen not to apply these fictitious characters to our children's lives. We don't teach them that Santa, Tooth Fairy, etc. are real. We don't even discuss it. Because we homeschool, it doesn't really ever come up. They sure do have great imaginations though. I think a lot of that is because of what you already said about the TV shows. We don't watch any of it, so they are free to let their sweet, little imaginations take over at playtime. I guess to me it always seemed like a lie I would be telling them. I don't say that to cause controversy or be disagreeable. But you asked and I thought maybe a different perspective would be interesting. Thanks for the thoughtful post. Lisa~
Hey Christie....I just read your post and called my husband over to read it and said..."Honey she does the same thing we do..." we also leave little notes from the tooth fairy and we sprinkle their beds with fairy dust..(once she forgot to take the TOOTH!!!).The children often leave her notes and little presents (small enough that they she can carry) I agree with your sentiments about letting them believe for a little while but still letting them know about GOD's love...some of my first posts are about child's innocence....anyway...sorry for going on and on....thanks for sharing..much love, Lucy
This is such sweet post.For some reason it brings tears to my eyes.
God Bless,
Ginger
once I forgot and my daughter woke up and with a sad look told me the tooth fairy forgot about her. I told her something must have happened...to go eat breakfast and I'll see if I can make contact with her..Sometimes in times of dire emergencies..it's possible to do that. In a bit I came and told her the tooth fairy's wings were bent out of shape and she couldn't fly out but was coming that day. Her face lit up...she believed. She's 10 now and doesn't believe but something she does believe....He is real...Boy as parents we go to some great lengths to keep the magic....
Hi Christie, this is such a sweet post... brings back fond memories...:)
Stopped by from Spiritual Sunday.
Blessings,
Ruth
That is so sweet. I agree with you. Kids grow up way too fast these days. This reminds me of a tooth fairy story a friend told. She finally decided it was time to tell her son the truth. When she told him she was really the tooth fairy, he said, "Noooo," And then he said, "How do you get in all those houses." Kids are so cute.
Hugs and blessings,
Charlotte
Such a precious post! Love it. You are a great mother.
i love it too!
would you plese share the tooth fairy's response letter/ I love it!!!
jkholt@amaonline.com
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