A Lie, A Loose Tooth, and Sensory Issues
I had forgotten how distressing change can be for someone living with sensory issues sometimes diagnosed as full blown SPD or Sensory Processing Disorder. My middle child has some of these issues and was weirded out by body changes like loose teeth. She said they hurt. So this week I asked my son, now 5 years old and the third child in our lovely family, if he has any loose teeth, yet. When my son said he didn’t have any loose teeth, I assumed he was being honest and said,”OK”.

Who doesn’t want to lose teeth and get money from the lovely socially encouraged tooth fairy? Oh, wait. My kid. <3
Keep in mind that we already prepped for this change by talking, reading Tedd Arnold’s book titled Parts, and I answered questions. (Yes, you NEED to read this book. It is hilarious and a helpful introduction to our changing bodies without a lot of scientific jargon. Then, you can graduate to other books about senses, body functions, anatomy, etc. when your child is ready.)
Fast forward to yesterday. As I was brushing his teeth, I noticed a huge movement in my son’s mouth. You guessed it. There is at least one loose tooth, though it seems the one beside it is going to come out fairly soon as well. So why did he lie? He wasn’t getting into trouble. He isn’t usually overly private about things like this. Why would he lie to me? (I could add the gross things or weird things he does tell me, but I really don’t want him to see this later in life and be embarrassed. My point is that he is not at all private about most things.)

Denial can be a coping technique when something concerns us. This is very true for some children living with sensory issues and/or SPD.
My middle child hated this type of body change so much that she would go into a kind of denial sometimes and ignore the issue as if it was not happening or she could stop it. I thought that maybe my son was trying to ignore or deny the issue. So I asked him how he feels about the loose tooth. Sure enough, once he finally answered, he said it was weird and scary. I am no fan of lies. However, I can see why he would not be honest with me. He was struggling to understand and be okay with this inevitable change.
So today we will break out the Tedd Arnold book again, chat some more, and hopefully find time to look up information online depending on what his questions are. Hopefully he won’t be so weirded out by loose teeth once he has the experience of this one coming out. I did have to warn him that sometimes there is a little bit of blood and because he flips at the site of blood, I am a little worried this may send up back a few paces. But, hey, it’s okay to be a work in progress.