Dad Sends Letter From 'Tooth Fairy' to Untidy Daughter—Plan Backfires

A dad hatched an ingenious plan to teach his daughter a lesson about keeping her room tidy, via a letter sent by the "Tooth Fairy."

The note said that several attempts had been made to retrieve the tooth under her pillow but that they had to abort the mission, due to the many obstacles strewn across her bedroom floor.

However, while the scheme drew praise and sparked debate on social media, it didn't end up having the desired effect on his 10-year-old.

The dad who hatched this particular plan to address his young daughter's untidiness told Newsweek he did so, in part, because he felt it was his duty as a parent to help her avoid some of the mistakes he made.

"While I believe tidiness is important in general, I recognize that my wife and I aren't tidy people," the father said. "I try to be honest with my kids about my own shortcomings, and tell them not to be messy like me. I hope that, if they learn good habits early, it will help them later on."

The dad, who asked not to be named but confirmed he and his family live in Syracuse, New York, said that the idea of addressing her untidiness in a note from the Tooth Fairy was one born out of necessity.

"We had forgotten to play the part of the tooth fairy and, when she woke up in the morning, she was disappointed," the father said. "Since we had been trying to get her to clean her room for a long time, it provided an opportunity to learn a light-hearted lesson."

Being tidy might not be everyone's strong point, but it can be a useful skill to take into adult life, and particularly the world of work. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that untidy, cluttered working environments can often prove debilitating.

Researchers found that the human brain can often struggle to process clutter. It can often become overwhelming to a point where our minds struggle to complete even the most basic of tasks. The study found that those who tidied their homes or work spaces effectively took away the strain that these competing objects had on the brain, resulting in better focus and increased productivity.

In the note, the dad had the tooth fairy say that they had been forced to perform a "very rare daytime retrieval" of the tooth after encountering multiple issues on previous attempts. "The state of your room prevented us from performing a midnight retrieval," the note read. "The first attempt almost resulted in tragedy as one of our agents' shoes got stuck to something icky on the floor."

The note continued: "While attempting to free herself, a pile of socks tipped over and nearly suffocated her." The note later added that daytime collection is not desired as tooth fairies prefer to operate at night. In future, the fairy hoped the exchange could be performed in the usual manner.

The dad said that his daughter did enjoy receiving the note. She wasn't alone either. He also shared the note to Reddit, under the handle u/haggardnarwhal, where many were similarly full of praise for his approach. "I love your letter," one Reddit user wrote, with another commenting: "I cannot stop laughing. This is brilliant!"

The dad put the note's popularity down to the fact it was written in such a formal way: "It is silly to have this image of a fairy in your head, that deals with young children, and communicates like an adult."

The father wasn't without his critics, though. "Quite a few people claimed I was manipulating my daughter," he said. "Another said I should try being a parent and helping her. It's as though with this one story as a single data point, they have me and my parenting style figured out."

The dad added that some of this backlash bothered him. What's perhaps more frustrating is that it didn't end up having the desired impact either. "A lot of people have asked, and the answer is no, the note did not have any lasting cleanliness effects," the father said.

However, with time still very much on his side and more visits from the Tooth Fairy to come, this dad isn't giving up hope of getting his message across just yet.

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