A loose tooth can be a scary moment for a child, but when his tooth falls out, a little reward usually awaits him under the pillow.
If you are asked the question: "Where did the tooth fairy story come from? You have no answer to give to your little one, we give you all the elements of answer in the article of the day!
Whether you have musophobia (the fear of rats or mice) or not, you have all been waiting impatiently for the little mouse to put a coin under your pillow. Did you know that this legend does not date from today but is much older.
First of all, we are curious, which team are you part of? The one that received one or two euros or the one that woke up and had a small five euro bill? To tell you the truth, we are rather from the first team.
But be careful, for the tooth fairy to pass, the children's teeth have to be white, which will motivate your children to brush their teeth well and if they still refuse, why not try the Y-Brush (;)).
Several stories are mixed around this little rodent.
The first story goes back to the seventeenth century (17th century), with that of the Baroness of Aulnoy. She tells in a tale entitled "the good little mouse", that a fairy turns into a mouse to help a queen to defeat an evil king. At night, the fairy would hide under the king's pillow to make his teeth fall out.
A second belief exists. When an animal ate a baby tooth, the new tooth would be as strong as the animal's own. For example, the permanent tooth would be as strong as a mouse's.
Closer to home, in 1927, Esther Watkins Arnold published a story called "The Tooth Fairy". This book marks the first children's story in which a little fairy was going to get the children's teeth.
One thing leading to another, this story has been passed on from generation to generation.
And in other countries, how does it happen?
Rituals around the loss of a child's tooth exist in many countries
In the Maghreb countries, such as Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, when a child loses his or her baby tooth, the child turns to the sun and asks to exchange the tooth for a gazelle tooth.
In the Philippines, the child throws the baby tooth over the roof of the house.
In Sweden or Argentina, the tooth is put in a glass of water and during the night, the mouse drinks the glass and takes the tooth while not forgetting to leave a small coin.
In South America, such as Brazil, Guatemala or Brazil, children throw their tooth over the roof of the house, but it is accompanied by songs in which the children ask to have beautiful teeth.
In Togo, the children also have to throw their teeth over their houses but without opening their mouths! Why do they do this? A story tells that a lizard must not see the hole left by the loss of the milk tooth, otherwise the permanent tooth may never grow.
Now you know all about this little animal that comforts your child when he loses his tooth.
