Around Christmastime I wrote about what
to do if your Elf-On-A-Shelf “forgets” to move around and how to cover yourself when you screw up.
Since that time, I've had two experiences which caused my daughter to question her belief in
the magical.
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| Ah, the magic of childhood! |
On Christmas Day, she swore that she'd
seen my son's Christmas gift stored in my closet. When I asked why
she had been in my closet, she claimed she'd been reading a lot of
mystery books and was compelled to snoop. Yeah, right. As for the
gift, my son, in an effort to help me, said it must have been
another model because the one Santa got him wasn't the one he'd asked
for.
Still, Lily, on her own, concluded that Santa had “stored”
Junior's gift in my closet because the sleigh just had too much to
hold. I'm saving that one for future reference.
Then, the other day when Lily lost a tooth, she found a bunch
of her baby teeth in one of my drawers while she was “looking”
for a hairbrush. I have no doubt she was looking for the brush, but
she was also snooping amongst my things. She told her father about
the teeth and asked if either him or I was the tooth fairy. He said
it wasn't him and she should ask me. She never did. That night, after Lily put her tooth under her pillow,
the fairy
covered her enormous magical butt by leaving a note explaining that teeth get heavy
and she's hidden them in Lily's mom's drawer because she couldn't
carry them.
She also said she'd elicited the help of another fairy
to finally get them out of the drawer. Since I “didn't know”
they were there in the first place, the explanation sufficed.
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| The magic of the tooth fairy. |
Clearly, there are three issues here:
1) Why my daughter is snooping in my things. She's curious, but
this has got to stop. 2) Knowing that I have a Nancy Drew on my
hands, I've got to get more creative and smarter than the 9-year old.
3) Whether Lily is too old for magical thinking.
I've heard from many parents who
believe that magical thinking is deceiving your kid.
They think that
“tradition be damned, I'm not gonna do it.” Obviously that's
their choice. But in listening to Lily and her friends in the
nightly carpool to gymnastics, I was intoxicated to hear how happy
the Tooth Fairy and Santa make the girls. They shared stories and
compared notes, especially when it came to the fairy (what she looks
like, when she comes, when she leaves notes, and, most importantly,
how much each child got for a tooth!). The anticipation of a visit
made each child ecstatic and I relished the stories and their
exquisite innocence.
I don't remember feeling betrayed when
I left that way of thinking behind, but still, I wanted to
double-check and hear it from someone I knew would tell me the truth:
my teen. So I asked He-Who-Doesn't-Hold-Back-Anymore how he felt
when that bubble was burst. He stroked his new mustache for a second
and replied:
“Mom, it's a really nice feeling believing that there
are friendly, unknown beings out there. I never held it against you
and, in fact, I think it's cool how much work you put into me feeling
special. It's the love and intentions that count.”
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| Why shouldn't there be magic in childhood? |
So I will continue to help with the
magic, no matter what it takes. Fortunately, when I screwed up, Lily
came to her own conclusions. Why can't these beings get a little
help from parents? Why should they do it on their own? Sure, they
can store stuff in the house, write notes to kids, and share in the
milestones of these incredible changelings. I'm going to preserve
the magic for as long as I can.
As always, thank you for being here and reading this blog!
