Seasoned Teachers Share The Most Intense Parents They've Had To Deal With
As a teacher, you deal with a lot of kids on a daily basis, which means you also have to answer to all of their parents. Parents of students can be pushy and overbearing when dealing with their child's education, but at the same time provide some of the best stories for teachers to tell.
madness2135 asks:
Teachers of Reddit- who's the craziest parent you've ever encountered?
How crazy do these parents get?
It's never too early to start preparing
I was a kindergarten teacher when during a parent teacher conference a father asked me what I was doing to prepare his 5 year old son for the SATs.
I tried to come up with a serious answer and told him that we've been coloring a lot in art class, and that this should help develop his dexterity for filling in the bubbles on a scantron.
Ouch, and gross
School nurse here. Had a girl with nasty case of head lice that went on for months. Called the parent a dozen times. Parent didn't see what the problem was and refused to treat her. The girl got tired of being teased about it and had a fellow classmate shave her head in the locker room. Parent called to yell at me for "ruining" her daughter and accused me of shaving the kid.
Those are some serious words
Woman straight up tried to get me fired. Screamed at my boss in front of my students, scaring them. Said I was taking away his autonomy and stifling his creativity.
Yikes!
Art teacher here. I had a student's mom accuse me of being racist because I asked the kids not to use black or brown colors on their assignment. It was a 2nd grade color blending assignment.
Now this is a special one...
I teach fifth grade. Evidently a parent came to my principal recently because when we group the fourth graders into class, she wants her daughter in any class but mine. Under no circumstances is her kid to be placed with me. The reasoning behind it being that I have large breasts which will hurt her 10 year old daughter's self esteem.
Sometimes parents don't accept the whole truth
Had a parent accuse the school of discriminating against his son because his son spoke mostly Russian and that's why his son was having issues at school.
I speak fluent Russian and helped translate for their son. His son was having issues because he kept pushing kids and hitting them.
This is extreme
A parent who blamed me for her son's inattention in class because I wore a red jumper. He was very sensitive to red and it messed with his aura or some such.
When things get way to personal and very uncomfortable
Racist dad didn't like the fact that I am mixed race, so he threatened me at the school gates with his Rottweiler.
There is also a serious lack of interest in children's schooling from parents
Halfway into a parent's meeting, the mother realized that we were speaking about her youngest daughter, not the son.
This actually doesn't sound that unreasonable...
Someone seeking Mandarin Chinese lessons for their 6 month old. Not kidding. I wish I was.
When the parents make you run and hide
I had this kid who was relatively bright, but absolutely clueless and hated at turning assignments in; as a result, he was often failing. Well, beginning of the school year, the parent flip out and decide that I must be the worst teacher in the world. Stalked my social media and LinkedIn, somehow got ahold of a bunch of other parent emails and started s***-talking about how I was brand new and incompetent (it was my 2nd year) and making really specific references to my previous job history. Principal sat down in a meeting with the parent, and the parent tried to act like none of it had ever happened. Eventually they just pulled their kid from the school; nothing was ever resolved. It was after that incident that I decided to shut down all of my social media. Just not worth the trouble.
These kids are not messing around
My mother, who is a teacher, once told me of a coworker of hers who punished a student for misbehaving or something. The student went home and told his older brother. Older brother came to school the next day and poured battery acid over the teachers car, presumably as a warning.
Who K.O.s a teacher!?
My boy Tyler (4th grader) had a dad that was taking roids and was also into cage fighting. He came after school once cause he wanted beef with me because I graded Tyler with a C on his essay. Suffise to say I stood by the grade I gave the boy and his dad escalated things until we got in an altercation. He knocked me out but he was taken away after that.
Control freak?
My lead teacher was handing out M&M's to reward the children for writing their letters correctly. She gave Luke, this lady's son, two brown M&M's.
The next day this lady storms in and gets her husband to come at my lead about how irresponsible and unhealthy this practice was. They send our supervisor a five paragraph text pushing her to get fired, ranting about how she put Luke in danger, and then condescendingly offering to provide "healthy snacks" since my lead was incapable of doing so and was trying to get Luke to have a reaction. Apparently. A similar response happened when the class was given pudding as a treat.
Oh dear!
Not a teacher, but my sister had a set of parents who still believed in the whole "left hand = devil's hand" thing. When conferencing with them, they kept saying "We're still working on his motor delay"
despite months earlier at the same conference she kept trying to explain to the parents that he is simply left handed. "we keep trying to get him to use his right hand"
That's just unnecessary
I had my rain stick threatened to be taken away because it is offends the Native American culture.
Rain sticks are from South America.
How friendly!
I once had a parent teacher conference where the parent came in and never spoke a word to me. She never said hi or anything, just came in, sat across from me and stared right into my eyes the entire time.
Oh snap!
Met this guy at the bar. Went home, told me I was the perfect combination of sexy and cute, then never called me again wtf.
Few days later was the PTA meeting, turns out this guy was the parent of one of my students and HAD A WIFE.
Military mom style
It was the first day of camp and another counselor's mom was helping him move in his stuff like a lot of parents do. Now for context these cabins get used about 3 maybe 4 weeks out of the year and are then locked up. These cabins are not bad for being cabins used by a camp this small. She saw the cabin and flipped out! She complained it was filthy and had every single person she could find help clean it up until it was spotless. it would of made a drill Sargent proud.
forget tying to communicate, just get them fired!
Not me, but a Chem teacher I'm currently a TA for.
She's had multiple parents call her racist, sexist, etc. She's equally "miserable" to everybody (not really miserable but strict and would rarely budge on her policies). Her best story was how a parent brought one of these absurd accusations straight to the school board, not the principal, not the superintendent.
Real life contains the scariest horrors you could ask for. So aren't we all living in a horror movie, in a way? At least, these people sure freakin' were.
MisterSnowman69 asked: What was a moment in your life that felt like a horror movie scene?
In the words of the legendary Mary Vivian Pierce in the film Pink Flamingos, “Murder merely relieves tension”. I’m sure the following Redditors felt differently.
Nothing scarier than the woods at night.
Went into a real deep woods hike for only the second time in my life.
My gps broke and had to rely on my compass. Got turned around a few times because I couldn't remember the direction I came from, and it was getting dark. Lost the trail way.
But the woods are weirdly silent in the dark and alone.
It was around 2am by the time I found the trailhead.
Darn foxes.
the simpsons react GIFGiphyMy friend and I got lost late on one foggy night in the Italian countryside. There were rats all over and every once in a while we heard someone scream.
I've never been more sure I was about to get murdered than I was that night.
It was probably a red fox that was screaming.
Could've also been a lynx, but they are much rarer in Italy.
At least she wasn’t speaking in tongues.
My mom is quite the sleep talker, but it's usually pretty short and incoherent when it happens. One night as a teenager, I woke up to her scream-yelling the Hail Mary prayer (my bedroom was across the house and upstairs).
Difficult to get back to sleep after that one.
Sometimes scary sh*t ends up just being funny coincidences. Super funny. Right?
Don’t give them any ideas.
I was exploring an abandoned mental asylum and then got the scare of my life when a scary looking person inside one of the rooms was just staring at me without moving. Turns out some joker had left a cardboard cutout there.
And now I have plans this weekend... Just need to find a couple of cardboard cutouts and to break into the local abandoned asylum.
Don’t you hate when that happens?
Evil Dead Horror GIF by Coolidge Corner TheatreGiphyI was driving home on backcountry roads at midnight in heavy fog. Like can't see 10 feet in front of you thick. Suddenly I see an all-white silhouette running in front of the car. Every hair on my body stood up. I immediately think "oh god, oh f*ck, it's a f*cking woman in white, I'm gonna f*cking die"
Nope just a drunk who dove into the ditch.
Gotta love paranoia.
When I was about 12, my parents went out for dinner leaving me home alone. We lived out in the country, on a private road with only three other houses, surrounded by cow fields and wooded areas.
I went into the the kitchen and glanced out the window towards the trees and there in the fading light I could see a person walking slowly through the woods. They were wearing all black, moving slowly and appeared to pause behind trees. My heart started pounding so hard in my ears I couldn't hear anything else and I was weak and shaky from fear. I froze and just watched them. Would they come to the house? Where were they going?
This was before cell phones but I suddenly remembered my mom had left the number of the restaurant by the living room phone. Slowly, I made my way towards the living room, trying to watch this stranger in the woods.
Just as I entered the living room, all the lights in the entire house went out. By this time it was nearly dark outside. I started openly sobbing and in the dark I heard a weird boom like noise. That was it, I ran to my parents room, hid under their bed and sobbed. That's where my mom found me hours later (it felt like).
Well, turns out the stranger in the woods was a stupid cow that had busted through a fence, the lights going out was from an accident a few miles away (hit the power line) and the boom was the pilot light in the gas stove. Man, I have never been that scared in my life though!
I have a lot of questions.
A naked man who was covered in blood chased me across a park at 2 in the morning. I was totally alone. He just wanted money for a bus (????) and luckily nothing bad happened but I thought I was going to die.
But of course, the genuine horrors do exist. And they aren’t scary in a fun horror movie way, they’re actually terrifying because they can happen to anyone.
A scary few seconds.
car chase GIF by Mayans M.C.GiphyI am a "baby" in a car seat in between cousins in backseat. Dad is driving. This is in the 80s and it is my aunt's insistence that I am in this seat even though I am like 5.
A sleeping semi driver is coming over into our lane and there is a cliff on other side. Basically my dad did some amazing driving but semi blew us up. I am uninjured sitting in the seat swinging my legs while everyone is unconscious. They all wake groaning. Dad doesnt wake up.
Long story short just minor scrapes and dad has broken leg. But the crunch of metal and those few seconds/minute of being the only "alive" person was quite fear inducing.
Glad they’re all ok now.
Two days after my now boyfriend told me he liked me he fell from a zip line and broke his back. Almost died. 6 months later he got into a car wreck from a drunk driver - almost died. 6 months after that, he passed out and had to have emergency brain surgery, again, almost died. I now have severe anxiety/separation anxiety/and ptsd. That whole year was a f*cking nightmare
Edit: we're both okay now, the brain injury was almost a year ago. But TBIs take a while to heal so he still has side effects. Thankfully our relationship is still strong; he's physically getting better and I'm healing emotionally too. Lucky for him, the trauma of the injuries has caused him to forget the majority of the pain and memories of those incidents.
ALWAYS wear a helmet.
Driving home from work at 23, listening to my favorite song.
I pull up to a red light, and see this guy on a motorcycle coming up next to me in the other lane. I rolled down my window to compliment his bike when he stops. He doesn't, and runs the red light. He hits a car going at least 55mph. His motorcycle shatters apart, he goes flying, hits the hood of another car, and lands on the ground and rolls into the curb (no helmet). The car he hit with his motorcycle was totaled. I had to step over his body to talk to the police. He was still alive when they got there. I regret not holding his hand. It was just a normal day, and all of a sudden it felt like the rug was pulled from out beneath me. He was only 18.
Edit: The song was Sunny by Boney M., for those curious
What did we learn today, kids? Foxes scream like humans, shadowy figures are usually cows or drunken rednecks, and once again, PLEASE WEAR A HELMET WHEN YOU RIDE ANY KIND OF BIKE.
Scary sh*t surrounds us. But where there is horror, there are heroes. So next time you think you see a scary figure in the woods, know that Bruce Campbell is probably right around the corner
Hypocrisy is everywhere; it's like a disease. And sadly everyone does it. Some of us indulge in smaller doses than others. But some people live their life by it. Like how can you support civil servants, like police, firefighters, etc... yet try to find ways to hide money in order to not pay taxes? Tell me... I'll wait.
Manga...
Hungry Night Court GIF by LaffGiphyItalian moms that say you're too fat then say I'm making grandma cry by not finishing my pasta.
Asian moms too! Not only that if you try to not eat, they make to go containers for you. Oh, sorry I have to leave, RUNS AT LEAST HAVE SOME FRUIT.
Phonies...
Celebrities positioning themselves as champions for social justice while launching a clothing line with no comment on the labor conditions their garments are made in.
Sexy Times...
The Porn Industry
Why is prostitution considered a crime, but it becomes perfectly legal once a camera is put beside them?
I think the first amendment helps with that one. There's been many a supreme-court case about whether porn is protected speech.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...
You can get away with WAY more crap, in general, when you're attractive.
But we all kind of aspire to attractiveness and it's not like it's attractive people's fault, exactly. So what is there to be done?
So true. Money and beauty are treated like virtues and they aren't. They're luck of the draw. It probably helps you to be a better person if people assume that you are gentle and clever just by looking at your face or wallet.
KIDS
GIF by MOODMANGiphyPeople screaming at you if you don't want Kids and Kids are the greatest thing in the World and then turn around and whine how expensive they are and how annoying yadda yadda.
Yeah see... humans are a mess. And too often then not, personal conviction and dignity are just a myth, or a punchline. Double standards have always been a way of life. And many of us have begrudgingly learned to navigate.
Fashion
Fashion Model GIF by NYFW: The ShowsGiphyIf a skinny person wears something out of the ordinary, it's a fashion statement and awesome. It can even just be something like a crop top or overalls.
But God forbid a fat person wear the same thing.
Distractions
The hypocrisy hypocrisy. People love to call it out but rarely notice it on themselves and if they notice it then it's something completely different or a distraction.
That's the worst. I hate that I have to hate that. But if I don't hate it, then the hate will just continue. So, really, my hate comes from my love of an end to hate. So anyone who hates my hate hates love. And we must hate anyone who hates love!
My Morality
My own personal hypocrisy; When I was a lot less well off financially, delivering pizzas trying to get through college, I kept a cup of coins in my car. When a homeless person would approach me for spare change, I gave them the cup. Most of the time it was nearly full, so there was probably 20-30 dollars in there.
Now that I have a good salaried job, even if I've got a few bucks in my wallet, I tend to not even make eye contact anymore. I know it's awful, I know it makes me crappy, but the last 4-5 years have made me a jaded craphead towards people in general. I used to be so hopeful and I wanted to help everyone, and tried to live a life that reflected that.
Now, while my general and political morality is pretty much the same, my personal morality has gotten more grey. I'd jaded, I hate people, I assume the worst of people I used to assume the best of. I don't really care about the strangers around me like I used to, but I still expect everyone else to.
Placing Blame
Victim mentality.
It's so freaking frustrating when it becomes entrenched. "You did this, it's your fault" "you should've known to do x, its your fault" Yeah bro your problems aren't my problems and if all you do is make excuses and blame me for them, it's not going to be my fault when you don't develop as a person and accomplish your dreams. I'm sure they'll find someone to blame though.
In D.C.
Donald Trump Reaction GIF by Election 2016GiphyPoliticians work part time, are given free housing, education, and health care, and exempt from the everyday violence we experience, but refuse to lift a finger to help us.
At this points most people running for a position in the government are only in it for the benefits of being a politician and the amount of money they can embezzle. Well in my country at least.
Just speak a truth and live it. Yes, it maybe hard. But what part of life isn't? Hypocrisy is just lying. Plain and simple. And it's a sin to lie.
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