Just When You Think It's Safe...

It was one of those moments which, although I knew it was coming, I was totally unprepared for. I thought I would get advance notice, a clue that this momentous event was about to happen. As it was I was caught totally off guard!

What was this life changing moment? Our first lost tooth! Girl had mentioned her tooth was sore but hadn't gone on about it, and certainly hadn't said it was wobbly. So when I sent her to brush her teeth and 2 seconds later she came up to me with a tooth in her hand I was completely off guard!

My initial instinct was to panic and phone my mum! What's the protocol for lost teeth? Should it be bleeding? Do I need to stop the bleeding? Do I congratulate or commiserate her? And what do I do with the damn thing?!

Being one of those terrible parents who will not persist in lying to their children about mythical creatures, I don't buy into the whole tooth fairy lark. However I will give her a pound for her tooth. But when do I give it to her? And how, because with her special needs she doesn't really have a concept of money, or keeping things safe for that matter. And what DO I do with the tooth? Keep it for posterity? Throw it in the bin?

I'm sure that after my next couple of teeth and certainly by the time I get to Bug I will be handling this like a seasoned pro. That's a point, how many teeth do kids have? 26? So I've got to do this 78 times?! That's a lot of money! Who on earth thought up this pocket money for teeth lark?! Certainly wasn't a parent! I had better start saving! In the meantime if you have any tips on handling this whole business I would be very grateful! Now, off to search the settees for spare change...

Should I Interfere?

I have a parenting dilemma and am not entirely sure what to do!

Girl is 4 and a half, Boy is nearly 3 and although they love each other dearly and love to play together, their play is still punctuated by yelling, screaming and fighting!

Quite often they will be playing together in Girl's bedroom and all of a sudden there will be squeals or yells from Boy as his big sister either tries to make him do something, sits on him, or just takes something off him!  My natural instinct is to interefere but if I leave them he doesn't come running to me telling tales, unless she's really hurt him, and soon the squeals stop and he's laughing at her again.  He's a stocky lad so I doubt she could hurt him.

My dilemma is this: should I interfere as sometimes what she is doing is tantamount to bullying, or, as he doesn't feel the need to get me to interfere and will be playing again quite happily a few moments later, should I leave them to get on with it and accept that this is something they have to learn to work out and will be better people for it?

Any comments would be gratefully received!

PS:  To date there has been no actual damage to either child!