If there’s one thing kids love, it’s losing teeth. While losing teeth is a weird process in itself, they love giving them to the Tooth Fairy — and of course, getting a present in return.
One little boy recently had a different experience with the Tooth Fairy.
It was one that taught him that people had his back.
The boy is a first-grader at Gillett Elementary School in Wisconsin. He was dismayed when he lost a tooth on the playground…we mean that he literally lost a tooth. One of his teeth was loose at the start of recess. After a ball game, he realized it was nowhere to be found.
He was extremely worried about the tooth.
After all, how would the Tooth Fairy know to pay him a visit if the tooth was gone for good? But his school principal, Curt Angeli, stepped in to vouch for him — officially.
The teachers and students looked high and low around the playground but they couldn’t find the tooth.
Angeli guessed the boy had accidentally swallowed it during the ball game. It’s happened to plenty of us! So, he decided to write a letter to the Tooth Fairy ensuring she understood the situation.
Angeli explained the tooth had been lost during a game of ga-ga ball, which is similar to dodgeball.
“Dear Tooth Fairy,” said the letter, “Today, [the student] lost a tooth while playing outside at recess. Unfortunately, it was lost in our ga-ga pit, and despite the valiant efforts of an intrepid search team, we were unable to recover the tooth.”
In case she doubted him, Angeli added his own credentials.
“As a trained principal and hobby dentist, I can verify that there is definitely a gap in [the student’s] teeth that was not there this morning when he came in,” said Angeli. “Please accept this letter as official verification of a lost tooth and provide the standard monetary exchange rate you normally use for a real tooth.”
Angeli even printed the letter on official Gillett Elementary School stationary, complete with contact information, and invited the Tooth Fairy to get in touch if she had any questions. Of course, he had one final request.
“I am still waiting for the money for my wisdom teeth from 1987,” he said. “Please remit as soon as possible.”
Angeli has worked in education for many years, but he says it was his first time writing a letter to the Tooth Fairy.
Even so, he was happy to do it as a favor to his student. It was also a chance to be creative and teach the little boy how to make the best of a challenging situation.
“Education sometimes is a tough business nowadays,” he said. “Kids come to us from all different places, and you try to infuse that good support and acknowledgment in everything that you do.”
We should all be so lucky to have someone like Mr. Angeli, a trained principal and hobby dentist, on our side.
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