One of my very young nieces who hasn't yet lost any of her baby teeth (she's 5 years old) is quite analytical and argumentative, and so it's amusing to argue with her over the existence of the tooth fairy. Interestingly, although she believes that the tooth fairy is real, she refuses to believe me if i claim to have met the tooth fairy, or if I claim that the tooth fairy lives in surrounding woodland when we go walking. This is very much in line with her outright refusal to believe in elves, goblins, trolls, ghosts, etc, in spite of my best efforts to convince her otherwise. In summary, in her opinion:
- Only santa and the tooth fairy are real. No other mythological creatures are real.
- Anyone who claims to have met the tooth fairy is very probably lying.
- The tooth fairy lives in the sky.
- The tooth fairy doesn't have a problem avoiding birds, helicopters or fast moving aircraft, or dealing with low atmospheric temperature and pressure, because she's invisible ( presumably meaning non-physical).
- The tooth fairy herself doesn't have baby teeth, which negates the necessity of a "meta tooth-fairy".
- The tooth fairy won't financially reimburse adult teeth, let alone uncle's false teeth, when placed under a child's pillow, and experiments in this regard are neither permitted nor negotiable.
I have a suspicion that deep down, she doesnt' believe in santa or the tooth fairy.