‘What the hell, Mum?’ The parents who keep their children’s baby teeth

Justine Costigan stores her children’s baby teeth in a tin in her wardrobe. She says they remind her ‘of a time that passed so swiftly I struggle to remember it’. Photograph: Justine Costigan

In the back of my wardrobe, there’s an old chocolate tin that rattles when you shake it. Inside are my two grown daughters’ once pearlescent, now discoloured baby teeth. Occasionally one of them will come across the tin, open it and recoil in disgust.

I find the teeth disgusting too, but I can’t get rid of them. They may look like the kind of souvenirs kept by a serial killer but, to me, they’re a tangible reminder of a time that passed so swiftly I struggle to remember it.