I have heard tell that young American kids believe in the “tooth fairy” Is that true? If so how many would you say believe in it? Are there fairies for any other bodily components? Or other American mythical entities that trade monetary gain in exchange for bodily components?

31 comments

1. It’s just a way to get kids comfortable with losing a tooth.

2. Tooth fairy is unique in that there’s an exchange of body parts for money.

   For what it’s worth, the only body part that a child should be losing is teeth.

   [Relevant PBF](https://pbfcomics.com/comics/way-too-much/)

3. It’s just to get you excited to lose a tooth.

   Also I love this post

4. I’ve heard of some parents using a “pacifier fairy” or a “bottle fairy” to make it a fun ritual to put away those baby things. Like they put a pacifier under their pillow and in the morning when they wake up, there’s a toy under the pillow brought by the “fairy” (mom and dad) and the pacifier is gone.

   It’s a way to make something potentially upsetting fun and exciting.

5. *This tradition is recorded in writings as early as the Eddas (c. 1200), which are the earliest written record of Norse and Northern European traditions.*

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_fairy

6. My Mom makes all the new babies in the family personalized special tooth fairy pillows. The tooth fairy is a big deal in my family.

7. There are other Entities you can sell body parts to, but none so benign or widely known.

8. There aren’t many other “bodily components” that are normally expected to fall off a child’s body.

9. Have you heard about Pillow Pants?

10. I never “believed” in the tooth fairy but when I placed my lost tooth under my pillow I went to sleep with 100% expectation of being payed. Thank you mom.

11. They might briefly believe in the tooth fairy but I would think that most figure it out by the time they’re done losing their primary teeth. It’s specifically the teeth that have this system.

12. Yup! It’s something almost every kid believed in growing up (in my area). It might not be as prevalent in lower income areas but it is a very well-known tale. There are no fairies for any other bodily components (this phrasing is hilarious to me). It’s a way for parents to get their kids to not only not freak out when they lose their baby teeth but even get them to look forward to it.

13. I never truly believed in the tooth fairy. I always knew it was parents. But I remember losing a tooth, and I guess my parents didn’t have any cash on them, so I woke up to a squished Twinkie under my pillow. Still giggle about it to this day.

14. Everyone believes in it

15. I genuinely love how interested and excited this concept is for you. I never really considered the tooth fairy more than a basic parenting thing

16. Slender man

17. I am not sure how many actually believe it, it’s just a story that supposedly helps kids deal with something they might otherwise find scary.

18. I wonder if stuff like this even exists anymore when kids can just Google everything now.

19. The earliest tooth fairy myths date back to the the Eddas of Nordic mythology from the 11th century, and these are the earliest written records of Nordic and Northern European history and culture. A *tand-fe* or “tooth fee,” was symbolically paid with a child’s first tooth to spare them hardship later on in this and the next life, and some warriors made trinkets from them to carry into battle for luck. The myth is present in one form or another in many Anglo and Nordic cultures…it’s not a uniquely American thing.

    Like many other folk traditions including Santa Clause (a syncretic amalgam of a Turkish saint and a Germanic pagan figure) and Jack-O’lanterns (a job as a night watchman and an effigy originally carved from turnips in Ireland), it is one that our forebears brought with them when they came to this continent, and one that we have transformed into something so uniquely American in such a way that its origins are forgotten and it is now presumed to be something entirely of our own making…and yet somehow we’re often accused of having “no culture.”

20. My perspective from being a kid in the 80s:

    My parents didn’t get into any kind of mythology with me, but made it be more of an inside joke where I got to enjoy the benefits, but I had to promise not to break the secret with other kids.

    I knew several other kids that were serious about the tooth fairy. Not sure if they really believed in it, but they all had certain things they had to do to make sure it showed up, and they were all fun, so I was into it.

    For example: one kid had to paint a picture before bed with glow in the dark paint for the “tooth fairy”. I’d never seen glow in the dark paint before, so had fun playing around with that. Also woke up the next day with a dollar under my pillow.

21. I’d say it’s so common that they made a movie about it called “The Tooth Fairy” featuring Dwayne Johnson (2010).

22. Why would there be a fairy for body parts that are not supposed to come off? The point of The Tooth Fairy is to make kids losing their baby teeth less scary.

23. The way you asked this really took the mystical aspect of the tooth fairy away…entirely…

24. American mythology? I guess I’ve never thought of it like that 😂

25. There’s the Kidney Gremlin. If you get drunk at the wrong party you’ll wake up in a bathtub full of ice and a hole in your side and a feeling of missing something.

26. Americans also have the Sock Fairy, which takes one sock from a pair out of the dryer. No financial exchange. They provide the service for free.

27. Yes, and I caught the tooth fairy once. Didn’t realize my mom was a tooth fairy until then.

28. Haha no it’s just like Santa just a myth and we swap out the tooth for money when they fall asleep.

29. This is not just American.

    Anyway, similar entities include the Verucca Gnome, the Eater of Socks, the Hair Loss Fairy, and Bilious, the Oh God of Hangovers

30. The way OP asks this question is killing me why do you have to make it sound soooo weird

31. When I was growing up I think all kids believed in it. When a baby tooth fell out you put it under your pillow and when you woke up, the tooth fairy would have come and taken the tooth and left you money. Typing this out, it does sound pretty weird.