上周六，娃儿牙齿痛到哭。
周六牙医诊所也没开门，给他吃了止疼药后，不痛了，我们以为没事了，准备周一再联系医生。
没想到，周六晚上他实在受不了了。
于是，我们找到了一家周日营业的牙医诊所。
照了X光后，医生说乳牙有两处蛀牙，已经伤到神经了，唯一的办法只能拔掉。
于是，我们就预约了拔牙的时间。
有天晚上，娃儿突然说：
“爸爸以前就是这样拔我的牙齿，然后这样一丢。”
我说：
“我们小时候都是这样拔牙齿的。”
娃儿说：
“你们不能用你们以前的习惯了，反正不能拔一下就丢垃圾桶。”
我心想，之前我们怕他牙齿长歪，强制拔牙，可能在心理上给他留下了一点阴影。
痛，是一方面。
另一方面，按他的描述，牙齿这样一拔，一丢，就到垃圾桶了，这样也太可怜了吧。
下午拔完牙回到家，我突然发现口袋里有个什么东西。
打开一看，原来是一颗牙齿。
我说：
“这里怎么有个牙齿？他们没有把你的牙齿丢掉啊！”
娃儿说：
“是我让他们不要丢的。”
我心想，不错嘛，还会向医生表达自己的需求了。
这个牙医诊所，孩子只要超过五岁，大人就不能一起进去了。
所以全程我都在外面等。
我还担心过，万一他临时不配合，可该怎么办啊。
没想到，他不仅配合了，还能表达自己的需求。
我正沉浸在自己大脑的对话中时，他又说了一句：
“这样我才能得到钱！”
我心想，原来是这样啊！
去年，他在班上掉了一颗牙齿，老师还发动全班同学帮他找牙齿。
后面没找到，老师还专门给我发了一封信，说没关系，牙仙子还是会给他硬币的。
我原来还以为他心疼牙齿。
没想到，是心疼钱啊！
不过，不管是哪一种心疼，都代表着他知道他自身，哪怕是身体的一部分，比如牙齿，也是有价值的。
我决定今晚给他一个大的惊喜。
写到这里，我突然想起来了。
今天，我们在车上还大吵了一架。
理由是，他觉得他的牙齿其实可以不用拔。
已经不痛了，为什么还要拔。
我说：
“那只是临时不痛，以后还是会痛，所以两个医生才建议拔掉。”
结果，他就是不让我说“临时”这两个字。
还说：
“你根本就不懂我！” 😂
于是，我们又不欢而散了几分钟。
婷妈的亲子日常 创作于 2026.06.12
原创发布： tingtingma.com
写给孩子，也写给正在成长的大人。
未经授权，请勿转载。
Tingma’s Parenting Diary | 285. The Tooth Fairy’s Money
Last Saturday, my son had such a bad toothache that he cried.
The dental offices were closed, so we gave him some pain medicine. After that, the pain went away, and we thought everything was fine. We planned to call the dentist on Monday.
But on Saturday night, he simply couldn’t take it anymore.
So we found a dental clinic that was open on Sunday.
After taking X-rays, the dentist told us that his baby tooth had two cavities, and the decay had already reached the nerve. The only option was to pull it out.
So we made an appointment for the extraction.
One evening, my son suddenly said,
“Dad used to pull out my teeth like this, and then just throw them away.”
I said,
“When we were little, that’s how everyone did it.”
He replied,
“You can’t use your old habits anymore. You can’t just pull out a tooth and throw it into the trash.”
I thought to myself that maybe, because we had forced him to pull out loose teeth before to prevent them from growing crooked, it had left a little emotional scar.
Pain was one part of it.
But on the other hand, from the way he described it, a tooth gets pulled out and then thrown straight into the garbage. That did sound a little sad.
After we got home from the extraction that afternoon, I suddenly noticed something in my pocket.
I opened my hand and realized it was a tooth.
I asked,
“How did this get here? They didn’t throw your tooth away?”
My son said,
“I told them not to.”
I thought to myself, not bad! He had actually learned to tell the dentist what he wanted.
At this dental office, once a child is over five years old, parents are not allowed to go in with them.
So I had waited outside the entire time.
I had even worried that he might refuse to cooperate at the last minute.
But not only did he cooperate, he was also able to express his own wishes.
While I was still lost in my own thoughts, he added,
“So I can get money!”
Then I realized what this was really about.
Last year, he lost a tooth at school, and his teacher even got the whole class to help him look for it.
They never found it, and later the teacher even sent me a note saying not to worry because the Tooth Fairy would still leave him a coin.
I had thought he was attached to his tooth.
Turns out, he was attached to the money!
But no matter which one it was, it showed that he understood that he himself—even a part of his own body, like a tooth—had value.
I decided to give him a big surprise tonight.
As I’m writing this, I suddenly remembered something.
Today, we actually had a big argument in the car.
He insisted that his tooth didn’t really need to be pulled out.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore, so why does it have to come out?”
I said,
“It only stopped hurting temporarily. It would hurt again later, and that’s why two dentists recommended pulling it out.”
But he simply wouldn’t let me use the word “temporarily.”
He said,
“You don’t understand me at all!” 😂
And so, we ended up going our separate ways for a few minutes before making up again.
Tingma’s Parenting Diary
Written on June 12, 2026
Originally published at: tingtingma.com
Written for my child, and for the adults who are still growing.
Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
Originally written in Chinese by the author.
This English version was translated with the assistance of ChatGPT.