Leaping Lucy

I used an American Girl doll to extract my six-year-old daughters tooth.

I removed it the old-fashioned way, by tying one end of the dental floss to her tooth and the other end to Lucy, the American Girl doll.

I convinced my daughter to let Lucy assist with the delicate operation. I’ll be honest this genius idea only came after thirty minutes of negotiations during previous attempts to pull her tooth out with our fingers.

After all my daughter’s slobbering and crying, the mention of Lucy’s participation immediately changed everything. She agreed and my wife and I tied the floss on. My daughter hung her head over the edge of her top bunk and I let Lucy go. She nose-dived to the floor, and the tooth came out.

Luckily for me, Lucy’s head didn’t snap off when she hit the floor, or I would’ve had an even bigger problem. But all was well, and the tooth fairy even brought Lucy a dollar.

My daughter didn’t want my wife or I to pull her tooth. She was afraid we were going to hurt her. She didn’t trust us, even though we told her we would be careful.

But of course, she trusted an inanimate doll.

Later, I discussed this issue of trust. I wanted to use what turned out to be a unique family moment as a moldable moment.

I explained to my daughter that she could trust her mother and I. We would never do anything to harm her physically, because we want to show her God’s love through our actions. Actions that hurt her would not reveal a God that she can trust.

Even though Lucy has transitioned into her new role as tooth extraction expert, I want my daughter to know that my wife and I can be trusted even in the smallest things, such as tooth removal.

I want to build an understanding of trustworthiness in her heart and mind and direct it back to mine and my wife’s love for Christ. If she can trust us, hopefully one day she will fully also trust the God that we love.

How can you use moldable moments like this to build trust with your children?