The Surprising History of the Tooth Fairy – Ep. 392

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Laura

Welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. This week we have our weekly check-ins. We have our special segment. Today I learned where we learn about the surprising origins of the tooth fairy and about an island filled with babies. And we close with our BFPs and BFNs for the week. Let's get started! Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 392. Also, happy New Year. Happy New Year, everybody.

Shanna

Let's get right to it. Shanna, do you have a check-in for us? I do. While this episode is coming out a few days after the New Year, we're actually checking in about some stuff that happened in December. So, rewind. This week was a big week for me because it was a lead-up to... CECE's seventh birthday party I can't even believe that she's about to be seven it's wild but this party is coming on the heels of Thanksgiving so it's like this like gauntlet that you always call your May right my time of year this year is my gauntlet it's like Thanksgiving birthday party you know all this stuff so it just wrapped up Thanksgiving and it's like ooh I better lock in on getting ready for this party because even though I sent invitations a while ago Didn't do such a great job getting prepared ahead of time. So this is another classic Shanna whipping it together at the last minute.

Laura

Well, it's not like you don't have other things going on. You've been busy. But I do want to bring up your invitation really quickly because it was epic. Thank you. Yeah, I don't think I mentioned it on the show yet. No, I don't think you did. And you need to tell people what you made because we got it. And I was just like, oh, my God, this is incredible. I can't wait to show the boys.

Shanna

I love that you have that reaction to it. I made it all worth it. OK, so a couple of months ago, we did a like today I learned or Internet and Sanity or something where I talked about the craze of six, seven with the kids, right? Six, seven. six, seven. And I mentioned how CeCe was like, I want the theme of my birthday party to be six, seven. And I was like, what? Well, you know, the kid gets what the kid wants. So we went ahead and did a six, seven theme birthday party. Which is perfect.

Laura

She's turning from six to seven. Like, when else are you going to have a six, seven birthday party?

Shanna

Exactly. It's like this trend was created at this time in life just for her. I mean, and for kids her age was perfect. But I was like, it can't just be six, seven. I can't really get my hooks in that meat. So let's put something else in there. Cute. And so I found a really cute gift of the cat Pusheen, which is like a Kawaii cat, very cute little character. And the gift was like Pusheen with a party hat with her little paws going up and down, just like the six, seven movement, right? Like six, seven. Well, that inspired me. And I was on a roll. So I got that. I found all these different Pusheen characters. The secondary theme is Pusheen, if you can't tell because she loves Pusheen. Like she already has posters of Pusheen. She loves Pusheen. So I found all these gifts. I found all these images. I opened up Canva and I was like, we are making a video invitation baby.

Clearly I'm starved for creative outlet because I poured my heart into this thing. And it was so fun designing this like 20 second video invitation with these little characters. And there was like a six seven song that I found on Spotify, some generic things like do six seven. And so we put it together and sent it out into the world.

Laura

And it was pretty cool. You say we put it together like it wasn't a tedious task. I saw that and I was like, oh, I know how much work went into this because animating on Canva is a pain in the ass. At least it is for me. And I feel like I'm pretty tech savvy. And so I just want to let you know that I very much appreciated it. And I don't care what you did for the actual birthday party, but like the effort was there for the invitation. So.

Shanna

Thank you. Thank you so much. Some people, I just sent them the video with no context. People I'm close friends with. And it was so fun to get their reaction. You and a couple other friends were like, oh my gosh, that was hilarious. People I don't know so well, I had to add a little context. This is a video invitation. Here's the link to RSVP online. But anyway, that kind of formed the whole theme of the party. So as usual, we picked a birthday party theme for which no decorations exist online that I could just purchase.

So, you know, we made a lot of decorations using the Cricut and my printer and I made a pinata, a poutine pinata and just lots of fun DIY stuff that made it very cute. And it was, I was very impressed with your pinata as usual. It might have been my best pinata to date. I'm very proud of the pinata. It didn't hold up so well during the hitting. Uh, her head ripped and she fell off. I had to do brain surgery. It was what I told the kids, like I went and got new string and like tied it up. But it's because I was putting it together at the last minute. I didn't like have time to reinforce the head of the pushy and pinata. So, um, you know, you cut corners where you need to. Anyway, it was a fun party. It was at our house, the usual pizza, snacks, treats, pinata. Of course, I had activities.

The two big activities for this one were a photo booth that we set up outside and DIY, like make your own photo booth props. So we had created a bunch of photo booth props on the Cricut and the kids could decorate them with all of our crafting supplies. And that was a really fun thing. And it was cute too, because now we have all these keepsakes of all her little friends taking pictures and everything from the photo booth.

Laura

It's a genius way to convince kids to take pictures, because otherwise they don't want us to take pictures of them. But it's like, oh, give them their own photo booth. And then you just get to have all these photos. Exactly. And you and I got to take photos together. So that was nice.

Shanna

We did. We did. We'll have to share some of those. And then I did a treasure hunt because CECE requested a treasure hunt. I learned my lesson from doing like the scavenger hunt at Elle's party. That was way too complicated. So I pared it down. It was super simple. But the kids loved it. It was so cute watching them run as a horde from room to room looking for the clues and everything. And it was just, it was a lot of fun, exhausting of course as usual. But I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to this stuff. I just, I love throwing parties. I love being creative. I love having fun, creating fun. And in that regard, it was a major success. It was.

Laura

You did a great job. Everyone had fun. I do have a confession to make. Uh-oh.

Shanna

What?

Laura

I did help Sebastian cheat on the scavenger hunt.

Because he was getting really upset that all the big kids were getting all the clues before him. And of course they were. They can like read and they're bigger and they, you know, he's only four and a half and he was getting really sad. And I had helped you hide some, right? And I was like, hey, hey, Sebastian, just. Why don't you just come in here in the laundry room for a little bit? And he was like, no, but I'm going to miss it. Like, no, just, just, just wait, wait. And then when like someone had read the clue that was pointing towards the dryer, I was like, Sebastian, look inside the dryer. And it was like, it was the hardest thing to actually help him cheat because he did not understand what I was trying to do. I was like, buddy, look in the dryer and he was able to get it. He was like, I got one. I got one.

Shanna

Oh, yay. I like the first split second. He was like thinking, Mom, I don't want to do laundry at the Yager's house. What's happening? Oh, but that's fair. I'm glad. He was not picking up when I was laying down. That's true. Yeah, truly. Well, that's good. I'm glad that he was able to participate. I know it's hard because there were a couple fourth graders like Elle and a couple other older siblings. And I was trying hard to not let them dominate, right? Because they're even quicker and more savvy than the first graders. It's like, guys, you know, let the little kids have a chance.

Laura

But it is a testament to how fun it was that even the older kids wanted to do it, right? Like you got everyone invested. Yeah.

Shanna

That's true. That's what I try to do. I like to be inclusive with fun. So I think I succeeded there. You sure did. Yeah. But that's it for my check-in this week. What about you, Laura? What you all been up to besides coming to my party?

Laura

It was kind of a party weekend for us this weekend because the night before CeCe's birthday party, we had a little mini-party at our house with your kids.

Yep. Well, you and Steve went out to a work dinner. And yeah, that's what I'm going to check in about because it was really fun. And I don't think I ever gave you like a full dispatch about it because like, you know, I gave you some updates that night and then the next day we kind of talked about it a little bit, but you were busy with the party. So I don't think you ever got to hear like a blow by blow of what happened. Yeah, I'm eager to hear. So this all started when earlier this week, Steve texted me and our friend Jen and was like, hey, guys, like, I have a favor to ask, you know, I have this work dinner and I'd really love to take Shanna. Would either of you guys be able to come babysit at our house while we go to this thing? And Jen very quickly wrote back with some other plans she had.

No, I mean, and it tracks because Jen always has plans. Jen, you have to book Jen in advance. And like Steve did not think about that. He did not take that into account. Do we ever have plans? No, never. Gotcha.

Gotcha.

Laura

And I looked at this email and I thought, yeah, I could go over to the Yager's house and watch these girls or I could propose what I did propose to Steve, which was what if instead you brought the girls over before your dinner and the kids had a little like movie night, you know, almost like a fake sleepover and hang out and then you come pick them up and take them home because as much as I love hanging out with your girls, I also love not leaving the house. So it was genius, genius move. I mean, it was genius for me because I got to hang out with your girls and the boys got to have a ton of fun. And I also did not have to leave the house. Steve did have to drive from your house all the way to Glendale and like back out like he made a big triangle around the San Fernando Valley. Yeah, because dinner was not close to Glendale. not.

But you know, I'm glad he did it because I think this was like a very formative event for these four children. Yeah. Oh, they had so much fun. They were, I mean, they were like at level 10 from like the get go, you know. i believe it i can't believe it l and cece come like barreling through the door like oh my god and you know all the kids Sebastian are just like oh my god like jumping up and down hugging and stuff and just like oh my gosh guys like pace ourselves. Spoiler alert, they did not pace themselves. Shocker. Yeah, it was just a lot. So I think they went straight into building like a massive fort. Like all I know is that Elle started like bringing all the parts of the nugget downstairs. Like be careful on the stairs. Oh my gosh. I was in the kitchen puttering around and Corey was in there and like I popped my head out at some point. And I'm just like, oh, that is a big fort.

Like they got everything out. Oh my gosh. So I finally get a pizza. They kind of eat. I make popcorn and then we all decided on a movie they should watch, which was Captain Underpants. Oh, OK. Good choice.

Shanna

Not a calm movie to bring the energy down. That's for sure.

Laura

No, it wasn't. So I'm not sure how much watching happened. There was a lot of like, I do know Augie was definitely hanging upside down on the couch during the movie for the most part. And then like he and L would kind of like run some laps around the house and come back. But they had so much fun. So cute. And then the movie ended and about I want to say maybe more than 10 years ago, Steve and you and me and Corey were hanging out at Golden Road Brewery just like talking about our new iPhones and like some features that are on the iPhone. And one of the newest features was Find My Friends, right? And Steve and I like on just complete impulse added each other on Find My Friends. I remember you being like, I'm not doing that. I don't know if you guys know where I am, but Stephen, I'm like, yeah, let's know where each other are. That's fun.

I've never taken Steve off and he's never taken me out. We just like ever since then, we know where each other are. Nice. So I'm like, so at some point I'm like, guys, I'm going to track your dad's location and find out if he's still at dinner or what's going on. And there's the movies over and they're like still crazy. And I look and you guys are definitely still at dinner. And I was like, OK. I had to figure something out because it was like, I want to say like seven, 30 or eight at that point. So it's like getting kind of later. I'm like, hmm. And that's what I remembered. The stair slide.

Shanna

Oh boy. The magic words. Oh my gosh. This is the one thing I heard about, of course. But I want to hear it from your perspective.

Laura

Well, I'm looking at these kids and they are literally, or at least the two older siblings are like literally bouncing off the walls. Cece and Sebastian are just sort of like eating their popcorn and just like, I think they were coloring at some point, but Miguel and Augie are just like, we're not like slamming into each other, you know, just like. So much energy. And I'm looking at them being like, what am I going to do with them for like another hour? Because their energy is just ramping up. Right. And I remembered the stair slide. And I was like, and of course, I don't know if I've talked about this on the show, but it was a Grandma Susan purchase, of course. It's just this plastic slide that fits on the stairs perfectly. It's like multiple sections and you kind of like telescope them out.

And I don't know how I've never brought it out for your girls, because this is right up their alley. And I was like, oh, have you guys ever used the stair slide? And they're like, the what? Oh, mind's blown. So I brought it out. And I, hold on, I'm going to just check my timestamps here, because I really think they were on it for a solid hour. I mean, they were sweating the amount of times they went up and down the stairs. Oh, that's great. And we kind of set up like a crash pad at the end. And so they were like getting like blankets to use to like ride down on kind of like a flower sack at the fair, you know, they were too fun. Then they started blindfolding themselves and going down. And the amount of times they said like, you need your eyes on the stairs. You need your eyes when going up the stairs. Wow. Things you never thought you'd say in life, right? Here we are.

Okay, my first time stamp of the stairslide was at 753. Oh wow, that was late.

The last video I have is 8.30. And I think I just stopped at some point. Like I don't think Steve got there till at least nine. So yeah, it was at least an hour of just going up and down and up and down the stairs.

Shanna

What a great way to get out energy though.

Laura

Oh my gosh. I hope they were exhausted when they got home. Yes, they totally were. But yeah, that definitely warmed my heart because it was just like such a sweet thing that I feel like maybe more common for people who maybe have cousins to begin with. if they're like live closer to close family and stuff, you know, like, oh, they got to like just hang out at like kind of an off time and just goof off. And I was so happy they got a chance to do that. So we're going to have to replicate it sometime.

Shanna

Yes. Maybe at your house next time. At our house, for sure. I mean, Yeah, we owe you. Thank you so much. When I heard of the work holiday party and Steve was like, plus ones can come. And I was like, that's great, but we need babysitting. Please arrange it because I am trying to throw a birthday party right now. And that's just, I don't have the bandwidth for babysitting and figuring all that out. So he took it upon himself and he did a good job figuring it out. And I'm grateful for you doing that and for, you know, hosting them. They had such an amazing time. And we totally owe you. They will be disappointed. There is no stair slide here. And, you know, we might have to hook one up to the roof or something. I don't know.

Laura

I mean, you have plenty of fun stuff. You have stuff you can pull out of the garage for sure.

Shanna

Yes, we've got fun. Fun for days. But yes, let me know when you need the favor returned. And we will absolutely do that.

Laura

OK, we'll do. But for now, do you think we should move on to our special segment? Oh, yes.

Shanna

We are back and this week's special segment is Today I Learned, where we share the interesting and or unusual things that we have learned recently related to the world of parenting. Laura, you are up first and I want to know what have you learned?

Laura

So I learned about a place that had an unexpected baby boom and I found it really interesting and I saw I wanted to talk about it. Oh, okay. So Shanna, you and I both know a fair amount about the TV industry. You know, we both are kind of peripheral to a lot of people who work in the industry. We know people who've worked on scripted TV, on reality TV. So we understand the world of television production, maybe a bit better than the average person, would you agree? Yeah, I think so. Would you say that television production is family-friendly? No.

Shanna

Absolutely not. And why is that? No, long hours, weird locations, you know, yeah, travel schedules.

Laura

Yeah, especially reality TV. I mean, talk about a environment that might be the worst for families, right? Like you have to usually travel to some remote location, you're shooting for months, the hours themselves, like every day is probably super long. My friend, Noelle, who works on reality, like she's a writer and a producer for reality shows. You know, I've gotten all these stories about how like toxic it can be and just it's not a place that's conducive to being a parent, especially a parent of a young kid, right? Yeah. You know, and as a like, I'm a TV spouse, right? Like, luckily, Corey hasn't had a job that has been super demanding since we've had kids, but I do worry like what's gonna happen if he ends up getting back on a show, especially if he's like running a show, like if we'll ever see him again. You know what I mean?

I don't mean like forever, but like when they're in production, it's all encompassing. So imagine my surprise when I saw this article from People Magazine titled, The Real Love Island. Survivor crew romances have led to 67 babies and now kids live on location in Fiji. What?

Shanna

What? Wow. That's shocking on many levels. First, obviously the reality TV aspect of it and Survivor in particular. Those are remote locations. 60 plus babies is a lot. But also I just learned that Survivor is in season 50, which I probably would have guessed season 12 because I'm so out of the loop. Um, but that is a lot of seasons to make a lot of babies. Yeah.

Laura

But you're saying they live there too? Yeah. Okay. So you're right. Season 50 is going to air starting in February and they've been airing since May of 2000. So they do like two seasons a year, I guess. And I was looking up statistics and I saw that they've done as of recording 714 episodes, which is like wild considering I have not seen a single one of them.

Shanna

I've like never watched Survivor. I think I watched some of it in the first season and then just forgot about it. Yeah, and but I know people love it. Oh, yeah.

Laura

Like Liz Kraft, who is the co-host of Happier in Hollywood and Happier with Gretchen Rubin. She's always talking about Survivor. She loves Survivor. I think it's so great when people have these interests. I'm just not a big reality show person. I'll occasionally watch one of the dating shows, but I'll forget when a new season comes out. It's just not something I watch a lot. Imagine my shock when I hear about not only how many seasons there have been of Survivor, but also that it's turned into this extremely family-friendly environment. So I guess it's not that surprising that over 25 years and 50 seasons, people are going to hook up, right? Like people are going to end up in relationships. That's not that big of a shock. Set relationships are like as old as time, right? Of course.

But what's special about this is that I guess when Jeff Probst took over as executive producer or like became an executive producer, he says, quote, literally the first thing he did was to change the family visiting policy. so that people could just bring their kids to set. And so this article is so adorable. It interviews a bunch of the different like couples that met on set and like shows all their kids and stuff. But apparently like on Fiji, on set, these kids are just like roaming around. They're really invited. One of the producers who has a four and a two-year-old there say they'll lose track of their kid and find their two-year-old handing out pens to the crew to sign in for lunch and stuff.

Shanna

That's cute. Well, it seems like it would be like a village aspect, right? It's like you don't have your eyes on your kid, but there are so many other people around that do, right?

Laura

That's exactly what they say it's like. They say that you walk out your door and everyone is your family, right? Like it's just this built-in village for like four months when they're filming. And it seems so fun. Like imagine having your childhood, you get to spend four months in Fiji while your parents are working.

Shanna

Dreamy, are all the seasons set in Fiji?

Laura

No, definitely not. Let's see. I'm going to look through the seasons here. It looks like there are some in Brazil, some in Samoa, some in the Philippines, Nicaragua, Cambodia. But it looks like since season 33, it's been in Fiji. So maybe they finally set up shop there.

Shanna

Man, what a childhood. That sounds amazing. It would be hard to come back.

Laura

from that and you're like, oh, I have to go back to my first grade classroom. Totally. And I think that it's so awesome that these kids get to see what sets are like. You know, like what an education. I mean, when I'm an adult visiting a set, I'm like in awe because everyone has their jobs. Everyone knows exactly what they're supposed to be doing. It's like such a well-oiled machine. like so cool to see all the different things that people do. You know, I think a lot of people don't realize or especially kids don't realize there's more than just like the cameraman and the actor. There's lighting, there's set deck, there's costumes, there's makeup. There's just like the PAs who bring waters, you know, there's all kinds of roles to play. So that's so interesting.

Shanna

Yeah, what a cool and unique education as a child. And you also get to learn about alliances and sabotage. Yeah. How to hunt tiny animals to prevent starvation.

Laura

But I just love all the little anecdotes they have, not just of like people falling in love and having their babies, but also like how welcome the kids are at work. One of the moms said that right after she had her first daughter, Jeff Probst would ask her why she didn't bring the baby to rehearsals more and like She was like, well, I'm at work. I'm not bringing my baby to work. And apparently he was like, bring her. Don't be silly. And she would always ask every time, can I bring my kids to the rehearsal this time? And he wrote a text to her that said, consider this as always a yes. No need to ask again. It's just a blanket yes that you can bring your kids to rehearsals and stuff. It's like, oh my gosh. Imagine having a job like that. I think that would be amazing.

And you know the one other thing that made me, you know, suddenly a survivor fan, like this is turning me into a survivor fan even though I haven't watched a single episode. is that it actually helped encourage some of the crew to feel able to have kids. A lot of them were like, oh, I had put off having kids for so long because of my career and wasn't sure if it could ever happen. And then I got hired on Survivor and saw that it was possible and felt like I was suddenly able to see how my life could work like this. And I just wish all jobs were like that.

Shanna

Very cool. And they're not. So I think the main takeaway is that Laura, you and I need to find a way to get a job on Survivor.

Laura

Sure. I wouldn't say no to living in Fiji for four months though. That sounds nice. No, it sounds real nice. I would love that. But that was my surprising and interesting today I learned. Shanna, it's your turn. I'm sure you have a today I learned to share with us.

Shanna

I do, Laura. Sorry, this is not your favorite topic, but we have got wiggly teeth all up in here lately.

Laura

Yeah, I know. It's just my next, gosh, probably 10 years of my life that I'm going to have to deal with this. So I got to get used to it. Yeah.

Shanna

Yeah. So this is just your exposure therapy, Laura, OK? Okay, and it's not that bad. But it got me thinking, right? Because Cici's got a loose tooth right now. Elle has a loose tooth. I got some cash from my groceries at Trader Joe's the other day because I'm like, oh, it's coming. It's coming. Mama's got to be prepared for the tooth fairy. But then I'm like, what is the tooth fairy? Like, what is this? Like, where did this come from? What's the history? And it made me curious. And what I learned is that the tooth fairy is not rooted in some ancient folklore, like Santa, right? Can date back to like 400 AD.

the Easter Bunny, which is like 1700s Germanic pagan rituals, like long history that this stuff has developed. What I learned is that the tooth fairy is much more recent. Really? Yes. And earlier tooth loss traditions did occur, but they were more to us unusual and sometimes even a little bit dark. So I'm going to go there and I'm going to tell you about this.

Laura

Okay, yeah, because my, so like if you were like Laura, guess where the tooth fairy came from? My guess is like, okay, so it's some like, some 12th century, like Hungarian, you know, monster who comes to steal your teeth, lest they misbehave or something and they build little houses out of them or something. You know what I mean? Like there's always some super dark and scary. History to all these things we think are adorable now. I can say that because, you know, my family's Hungarian and I know there's some creepy ass shit in our history. Yes. Okay. Well, then you own the right to say that. Okay.

Shanna

So yeah, I'm very curious to hear what's happening. So I was reading an article from Forbes that was talking about this, and I found it really interesting that while the history of Santa and the Easter Bunny have been studied and traced back by historians for a long time, no one has done that for the Tooth Fairy until the 1990s.

And it's funny, like the Tooth Fairy is just kind of this thing that exists that no one has thought much about. And that's how it's existed in my life, right? It's like we do this thing and it's like, wait what? So in the 1990s, two historians, Rosemary Wells and Tad Tuleja, started really tracing this back to see what our tooth traditions and how did the Tooth Fairy develop and emerge as we know her today. So before any notion of a fairy even came into existence, we did have people dealing with lost teeth in children ages ago and what to do with them and what they symbolized and stuff like that. So in the dark ages, which were the days of witch hunts, people believed that witches would curse you and ruin your life if they got a hold of one of these lost teeth. So when a child lost a tooth, it was very, very important to get rid of the tooth like completely. Oh, fascinating. Okay.

So to prevent witches from finding the teeth and putting a hex on the child with the tooth, they needed to get rid of it. And so they did that by swallowing the tooth to get rid of it. I don't know exactly who was doing the swallowing. I assume it was the mothers because you know, we We give it our all.

Laura

We do. I love my kids. I don't know if I would do that. I mean, you know, if I was worried about a witch hexing them for life, I guess I would. But it would, yeah, that would be a hard one for me to swallow, literally. I don't know. Roll it around in a little pig fat.

Shanna

Put them.

No big deal.

Shanna

It's how I give CECE pills, except I wrap them in three musketeers chocolate. Other ways to get rid of them at this time were to bury them in the ground or to set them on fire. So lots of getting rid of teeth completely to avoid being hexed and cursed. Practical. I learned that in some Middle Eastern and Asian cultures. people would take the lost teeth and throw them on the roof as a symbol of hoping that the new tooth would grow as big and as strong and as protective as the roof that the tooth was landing on. Oh, okay. Yeah. I don't know what would happen if you missed the roof or it popped off and fell on the ground. I don't know. I feel like that would be what would happen if I tried that. They're so little. You don't even notice. You're like, yeah, I'm sure it's up there. Yeah, totally.

In Norse culture, the Vikings had a tradition where children would offer their teeth to the Norse god Odin. And this is maybe one of the first signs of like a similarity to what our tooth fairy does. They would Take the lost tooth, put it on a bowl or something, offer it to the Norse god, and the god would bestow blessings upon the child.

Laura

Odin, what are you doing with all those teeth, dude? Like, that's what I want to know. I do too. Odin's just like filling a bathtub with people's baby teeth.

Shanna

Chillin'. The classic tooth bath. You know, you're creating these own memories and visions for yourself, Laura. This is all on you.

Laura

Okay, so that shows some similarities, but like, that's not the tooth fairy. It's not exactly the same. So when did the actual tooth fairy show up?

Shanna

The tooth fairy itself seems to have started as more of like a mouse creature. Okay. In some cultures, the tradition is that like a little mouse would collect the teeth and leave a little reward or something. But these historians note that the closest parallel to our American tooth fairy tradition really started because of an 18th century French fairy tale. called Laban Petit Suri. And it's about a good queen who is imprisoned by the bad king, and she enlists the help of a little mouse to help her fight her imprisonment and get out of there. So the mouse in the story turns out to be a fairy who helps free the queen by knocking out the king's teeth. Ooh, okay. Yes. And then the fairy mouse hides the teeth under the king's pillow, before, of course, eventually having him assassinated or killed or whatever. Details.

We all ignored that part and focused on the fairy tooth pillow, that aspect of it. So that's what's kind of remained and started to develop into the lovely tradition we have now.

Laura

Oh my gosh, we really focus on the wrong details sometimes.

Shanna

Or, I don't know, maybe not. Maybe not, Laura. Maybe we should just put our blinders on and focus on mouse pillow fairies. Mouse pillow fairies, OK. Mouse pillow fairies. So I guess that's the story that kind of like connected teeth pillows and fairies. And it developed from there. In like the 1920s, a Collier's magazine article made a mention of the tooth fairy. It didn't even really take hold until after World War II. It was there in the ether, but no one was really connecting to that and using that as a tradition.

Laura

I feel like there's got to be something that makes it nationwide, right? Because even after World War II, it's hard for a tradition to spread that widely. It's not like everyone's watching the same TikToks about it.

Shanna

Yeah. Exactly. They were devoid of TikTok back then. Poor souls. How did they live? How did they live? They managed. These historians speculate that the Tooth Fairy mythology really took off after World War II because of three reasons. One, increased prosperity. Like the Great Depression was over. People had more money to, you know, slip their kid a nickel or whatever. Like that was not a priority before. The second was the emergence of child-centered parenting. That type of parenting philosophy really didn't take off until that time before it was more of a, you know, we're all part of a village and we don't put as much emphasis on the child as an individual. And so that was taking off more where parents were trying to do things like soften the fearful aspect of losing a tooth.

Trying to distract the child from the pain of it and whatnot by creating this myth that would make them feel better. And then of course number three was media. Around that time we had fairies becoming more popular in media like with Tinkerbell, the fairy godmother, and Cinderella. So fairies were just starting to take hold in the zeitgeist. And of course, media, I'm sure, is the way that this ended up spreading nationwide. Proto TikTok, if you will.

Laura

Exactly. They watched reels in TikToks on these big screens, they turned them sideways, and they would like last longer. I think they called them movies.

Movies. Interesting. We'll have to double check that. They weren't even in color. Well, that's interesting to me because you know what? I actually had been so wrapped up in my own anxiety about tooth loss and like wiggly teeth and how much that x me out that I hadn't really considered the fact that the whole story of the tooth fairy and like having a prize when you lose a tooth is all to help a kid not freak out when they lose their tooth. to have some kind of upside. Like I had never really thought about it. I had just taken it as like, oh, all kids are excited to lose their teeth because they get the tooth fairy and like, that's just how it is. It never occurred to me like what a world would be like without having that incentive, except for I am living in that because I am anxious about them losing their teeth and I don't get anything good. I don't have a tooth fairy coming for me.

I have to give my money away.

Shanna

Like someone needs to come up with a ritual for me. Absolutely. When you are not looking I'm gonna pull Cory aside and I'm gonna give him I mean you're not even hearing this this is gonna be like a total surprise. I'm gonna help him create your own tooth mythology so that you can be rewarded Laura because you deserve it and we need to soften this blow for you too. Thank you well this has been fascinating I've learned so much. Yeah. Isn't it interesting? It's so funny. Like there's still things as a parent, I just haven't stopped to consider or think about. And then you learn something new. It's like, what? None of this helps me, though, with the fact that I hardly ever remember to get cash in time. What I do, I scroll around at the last minute, you know, wad it in there and sometimes just completely forget. So, you know, I still need help with that. But at least I know the history.

Laura

I'm sure that will be a balm to your children's soul when they wake up and the tooth fairy has forgotten about them.

But kids, did you know that this is origins in a French folktale or whatever? I'm sure they're going to be really into that. Yes, they're going to love that. They're going to be like, mom, this is so much better than $5.

Shanna

Thanks.

Laura

So funny. All right. Well, I loved learning about that. Thank you so much. You are welcome. And thank you for teaching me about Survivor Baby Island. Any time. Shall we move on to our BFPs and BFNs? Oh, yes.

We are back and we close every episode with a Big Fat Positive or a big fat negative from the week. And Shanna, you go first, BFP or BFN?

Shanna

I have a BFP. Yay. Yay. So the Thanksgiving break was a bit exhausting for me just having the kids home. I love my kids very much and I love spending time with them. But we all know that when they're off of school and there's no routine, no structure, it can just create dysregulation, a lot of anxiety, plus getting ready for Thanksgiving and then getting ready for CECE's party. So there was just a lot of room for bickering between my girls, lots of emotional meltdowns. It was a lot. And so by the time that break ended, which was the beginning of this week, I thought to myself, hmm, I have three weeks of this coming in December for winter break. And I panicked because I just didn't think that I could have three weeks of completely unstructured time. That's a lot. While I'm doing everything else I'm doing, I'm trying to wrap up my job. Just, you know, you know, I don't need to say it.

And so I was like, maybe there's a camp or something I could do, but I really don't want to spend a lot of money because my job is ending and I don't exactly know what I'm doing next. So I don't want to spend a lot of money on a camp. Well, I started looking around at the benefits through my work and found out that they offer subsidized backup child care. And one of the things they help subsidize is camp for kids when they're on break from school. I was like, I'm sorry, I've worked here a real long time.

Laura

How have I not realized this? It's been a long time and you're just figuring this out like in your last month. Yes.

Shanna

Yes. Yes. I was like, oh, my word. So I found a camp that is somewhat near our house. I signed them up. It's like $100 total for them to go for like six days to this camp. I was like, what? This is incredible. I showed it to them. I'm like, this is the camp you're going to go to. And they got so excited. They're totally jazzed to go to this camp. And then my job ends, which means that the subsidy does not apply anymore, right? But Steve also works at a corporate entertainment company. And so I was like, Steve, does your job also offer something like this? He looked into it. Yes, it does, Laura. Yes, it does. Whoa. So the remaining days of winter break that my work can't cover, he's getting subsidized by his work. So we're basically gonna get camp covered for three weeks.

Plus or minus like some holidays, you know, they're going to have some time off to be with family and everything for just so much less money. And it is so helpful for us right now. This just like wonderful combination. That's amazing.

Laura

I feel like there's not enough education on all those little perks when you're at a job like that. I remember also being surprised when I had a corporate job, being like, oh, look at all these like weird little things you can get. Like gym membership subsidized and all this stuff because they have all these perks programs. But I don't know, maybe they tell you in emails when you first get hired, but you're so overwhelmed you don't notice, you know?

Shanna

Totally. Listeners, this is your reminder. If you work at a corporation or even just a bigger company or even a small company, I don't know, check your benefits because you just don't know what's available if you haven't looked. Don't be like me. Don't wait until you have one month left at your job before you can take advantage of it. That's my PSA. You live and you learn. You live and you learn. But yeah, so that's my BFP for the week. What about you, Laura? You have a BFP or BFN? You know what?

Laura

I have a BFN. It's been a while since I've had a BFN, but this is a BFN. All right. Yeah. Okay. What is it? All right. Did you go down the stairs slide and hurt your coccyx?

No.

Laura

My mom made me try it when she first got it, even though I was like, mom, I'm way too much. Like it's not recommended. She's like, stop being such a like, spoil sport. And she ended up going down and like trying to hurt herself. So I was like, no, thank you. Amazing. Okay. But what is your BFN? Yes, it's not stairslide related. What it is, it's not even body related. It's really a psychology thing, which is something that we've been struggling with Sebastian recently. So Sebastian, we've always been a little smug, a little braggy about how independent he is. I mean, this child came out of the womb so independent. I have a video of him at like five months just rolling around. It's a time lapse. It's a time lapse of like a full hour of him just like rolling around the playroom playing by himself. I have to come like unstick him at some point, like he gets stuck underneath the chair.

Otherwise, and I'm like obviously sitting there, but I'm just like sitting there watching him and he's always been such a great independent player. Yeah. I remember that. I mean, you've seen it, right? Like our older kids will be like, mama, mama, mama. And he'll just be off like, entertaining himself, playing by himself. Yeah. Well, something has happened. And I don't know exactly what it is. If it's one thing, if it's multiple things, where all of a sudden, he is like super scared to be alone. Oh. And he does not want to be even like in the next room. He is getting super freaked out. If he can't see me, if I'm not in like line of sight, I'll like tell him. I'll say like, mommy, mommy has to run to the kitchen to grab something in two seconds. Mommy, mommy, where were you? You scared me. And I'm like, I literally told you where I was going. I was with an ear shot.

I was right around the corner. And it's affecting his sleep too. He has literally been waking up every single night scared at like 2 a.m. wondering like if there's monsters and ghosts and needing someone to sleep next to him. And my body won't let me sleep on the nugget for very long. Like my leg goes numb and my heartburn is really bad. So Corey has been falling on that sword pretty much every night. But it's really, it's just been a big change.

Shanna

Oh, this is interesting and definitely very different from what he has exhibited before. Do you have any theories on what's going on? Yeah, I have a couple theories.

Laura

So the first most obvious one is that he's just gone through a big change, right? Like he switched schools and that was a really big deal. And maybe that's caused some psychological feelings of instability and fear in him. I think I'm sure that's a contributing factor, right? Change always does that, but it feels like it's more than just that, you know? Plus it's kind of crept in before that. It wasn't exactly a one-to-one, right? The minute we moved schools, this started. It was creeping in. The other thing that I am very suspicious of is Halloween.

Shanna

Oh, yes. Lots of scary imagery that he's been seeing.

Laura

Yes. Halloween also is kind of a year-round thing in our house because my children love it, and especially Sebastian. He's obsessed with Halloween, like absolutely obsessed, wants to listen to the music all the time. And I think he's starting to not know whether ghosts and werewolves and zombies and stuff are actually real or not. I think that's part of it. It doesn't help that Augie is egging him on and thinks it's funny to make scary ghost noises when he's on his top bunk. Oh, yeah. He'll be up there going, ooh. and Sebastian will be like, stop it, stop it. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. And it's just like such typical older brother stuff. And I get so irritated about it. Like, I feel like I'm a pretty chill parent. When he was doing that, I was like, this is the limit of me being a chill parent, because like, I'm not going to tolerate you being mean to my other baby.

You know what I mean? Like you're my baby. but you're being the mean one right now, like knock it off, you know? And then like Sebastian will be like, ah, were wolves real? And Augie will be like, yeah, they're real. I'm like, no, they're not, no, they're not, no, they're not. And then like, he'll be like, a ghost wheel? And like, you know, I'm just taking the like, nope, not real stance. I'm like, I'm not getting into like, well, some people think and some people don't. But then my mom is like, oh, I've seen ghosts. I'm like, shut up. Like you need to shut your trap right now. And then the other night at bedtime, we're done with books. They're both in bed. And Sebastian says, oh, mommy's real? And I'm just like, no, no, they're not real. Like knee jerk. And I hear Augie from his upper bunk going, yes, they are. They're real. And I was like, oh, OK. Well, yeah, they're real thing.

Like they don't walk around. I'm like, the mummies you think of are not real. Like, well, why are what are mummies then? And I'm like having to try to figure out how much I tell him about. You know, like just without lying. And I'm just like, oh my God.

So I think all these things are contributing. And then there must be some kind of like brain leap that's happened, right? Like something has clearly happened. I don't know what it is, but he has definitely developed some kind of new understanding of the world and it's making him scared. And yeah, it sucks.

Shanna

That's so interesting because as the kids have gotten older, I've forgotten about how I used to track the leaps in development. Yeah. I would track when they were younger. And it was always so enlightening to help me understand what was going on with them and their behavior, because sometimes the leaps would also come in tandem with some emotional regressions. And it's like, OK, I get that. But at four and a half, I'm like, I don't even know. I don't even remember what they would say about that age.

Laura

I don't either. Someone mentioned something called a limbic leap on the internet, which I've done a little research on and I can't tell if it's like a real thing, but something about their limbic system changing. So I'll check back in about that because I have not done enough research to really report on it. But for now, it's just my BFN that he is waking up literally every night. Yeah. And also I can't go to the bathroom alone anymore. Like mommy, I'm scared. He has to be like touching me while I'm pooping. I'm like my dude.

Shanna

It's always fun to have a bathroom, buddy.

Well poor guy, I mean I feel for him like being scared and when you're young and you don't know what's going on of course like oh I'm so sympathetic to that I get it but I also get like how exhausting it could be because like logically it's like none of this stuff is real and like you're safe there's no reason to be scared so it's always such a predicament.

Laura

Yeah. Well, and the other thing is I don't mind if he needs to come into our bed to sleep at night. Like he was doing that for a little bit and that was fine. You know, I'd hear his door open. He'd scurry in and he'd get in bed and I'm like, whatever, fine. It's cute. We get to snuggle and I don't really miss that much sleep. But he's now gotten to the point that he's scared to go in the hallway by himself. So it's calling for us. So like now someone has to get up and walk over and then someone is always Corey and walk over and sleep next to him. And it's just like, something's gotta give. Something's gotta give. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Shanna

Well, I hope it gives soon. Hopefully it's just a phase that will. pass or, you know, you'll figure out a strategy to help. I'm sorry, friend. I know that's exhausting. Thank you.

Laura

Thank you. But yeah, that is it for this segment and I think that's it for our show. Wait, Alessiauna, did we get a new review for you to read? We do.

Shanna

Starting off the year with a new review. Woo-hoo!

All right, this is from 11lover11by11. The title is The Very Best Parenting Podcast, Five Stars. I started listening to Big Fat Positive when I was pregnancy curious and nervous to start trying to conceive. And here I am, still listening weekly with a three and a half year old and a six month old. Laura and Shanna truly feel like mom friends who just get it. I've learned so many helpful hacks and parenting strategies But truly, the best part for me is the constant reminder that whatever chaos worries or is this normal moments I'm having, I'm not alone. The thoughtfulness and humor that they approach parenthood with is simply the best. I genuinely get excited every Monday when I remember there's a new episode. If you're trying to conceive, pregnant, or deepen the parenting trenches, this podcast will make you feel informed, supportive, and a lot less alone.

And probably make you laugh too. Amazing review. Thank you.

Laura

Oh my gosh, I love every single thing about this review.

Shanna

Yeah. Aw, thank you so much for taking the time to leave this review. That is so meaningful. And listeners, Laura just told me that we are close to getting 500 reviews on Apple Podcast, which is amazing. So please, could you do us a favor and help tip us over 500, head on over to Apple Podcast, leave us five stars, say a few things you love about the show, and we might read your review on an upcoming episode. Thank you so much. And if you have any today I learned that you want to share with us, you know we would love to hear from you. Laura, where can everyone find us?

Laura

We are on all the social medias at BFP Podcast. We have a website, bigfatpositivepodcast.com. And if you want to send us an email, send it to contact at bigfatpositivepodcast.com. Finally, we have the best Facebook group on the planet, but you got to go search BFP community on Facebook and request to join because it's a private group. And then when you request to join, you get asked two questions. Please answer those two questions so we know you're not a robot. Once you do that, you'll be sent straight through to the amazing conversations we're having in there.

Shanna

Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Ashana Maiko, and Steve Yager. Thanks so much for listening, everyone. Have a big, fat, positive week. Bye. Bye.

The Surprising History of the Tooth Fairy – Ep. 392

January 5, 2026

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This episode's sponsors:

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Episode Transcript

The Surprising History of the Tooth Fairy – Ep. 392

January 5, 2026

Listen Now:

This episode's sponsors:

Whisker Litter-Robot

Once Upon a Dance

Tags

Episode Transcript