Yes. These excuses are the reason why no one is learning as well. I'm ready to stop this foolishness because why are the teachers the only ones working?
Current school secretary here. The same conversation just happened yesterday in our principals office. 😣 I’m so happy that some of our parents hold their children accountable.
True Story: I called a parent about their child being consistently absent on Zoom. She replied, "Well, I asked him and he says he shows up.". You're right Mam', what do I know, I'm just the teacher. 🤦♀️
How about..... "My child does not like to be disciplined in any way." Uhm, then how would you suggest we handle this problem we are having with your child teasing less fortunate kids about their clothes and making them cry?
Yes @sheldon’s mom! People think helicopter parents are bad.....no, no, no Lawnmower parents are seriously knee capping our society with these adults they produce with zero problem solving skills and even less perseverance to even try to get something done on their own. We’re screwed.
20000 agreed lol. Ever have a parent teacher conference, parent walks in, and you immediately see where the kid get's it from..... Like... "dude I'm sorry, i's not you, it's your mom and dad that got you acting a damn fool."
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️. There isn’t a teacher that hasn’t dealt with this type of situation! The parent goggles are a real thing. Sadly many parents have them.
Sadly for every 20 parents with the "my child is perfect" goggles, there is the one parent who hears the complaint, says "oh really? I am sorry. That behavior is unacceptable and I will take care of it!". This parent goes home and turns the world upside down on that child so that they never behave like that again. Thats a PTA mom/Dad, who cares what kind of person their child becomes. I had a pta mom and you better believe i knew better than to end up in the principal's office. My brother, didn't learn that very quickly.
@@RCButterfly Our PTO parent IS that mom with the goggles. I went to a meeting (as a teacher and a parent) only to hear her complain about one of my colleagues who is actually well respected by most other parents and teachers. Anyway, she is our PTO president! Anyway, we have 4 main types: the "my child is perfect" goggle-wearing parents, those that take care of the situation and support us teachers, those that basically say "you're the teacher, figure it out," and those that do nothing (or say that they will, yet you find out the child who misbehaved all day got to go to Chucky Cheese after school just for fun). I had parents like you, and I'm so thankful! I work for a small district in a small community and have seen those students whose parents supported us teacher become fairly successful after graduation while those other students with less parental guidance end up with a police record or on drugs (not all of course, but many).
Gerry, I just commented on your last post! Again you’ve hit the mark. I left a very lovely school that catered to that parent, which makes teachers feel that they have no support . In contrast, the first time that I called a parent about a behavior problem from the school that I teach at now, The response was quite different. This time, the parent said, Hold on. let me get him....YOUR TEACHERS ON THE PHONE AND SHE SAID....” (insert kid mumbling here), Then Mom follows it up with, “ARE YOU TELLING ME YOUR TEACHERS A LIAR? I DON’T THINK SO!” This was one of my favorite parent teacher interactions. Mom and I are now BFFs.
I wish I could say I was surprised at this, but nope. I've dealt with this before, too. It's disheartening. Thank you for making it as risible as it should be!
even being retired this raises my blood pressure. i knew they were real stories....no one on the outside world would believe what teachers hear from parents. you can't make this stuff up.
There are too many teachers and staff to tag if I were to mention all of them that might have dealt with parents like this. Sometimes, I wonder if dealing with kids is the easier part; it's the parents that shorten your lifespan.
I know parents like this! I raised my kids with accountability! I was Thanked by the schools and I was ridiculed by parents for the way I was raising my kids. Ha! I raised Great adults
I hope kids will come back to school with better behavior, since parents have had to help them with class work during COVID. I hope parents will have better behavior since having to work with their child during COVID.
Amen! I had a momma that was all these rolled in to one! It’s so true! Thank you for speaking truth and modeling responses for teachers to not lose their cool when dealing with “that parent”. I am also grateful that you put this out there for citizens that would never believe this actually happens! 😆😜👏👏👏❤️ (Not my Momma...she was a “You better behave in school or you’ll also get punished at home!” Mom. I am a 30-year teacher who has had many of these parents, especially in more recent years, but a was referring to the most hellacious parent of my career. If I’d have been a first year teacher, I’d not have had a second year! That woman needed to get a life!🤦🏻♀️
Please don’t give up on the parents or the child! I had a student who kept telling his peers that his brother was in a gang. The school counselor and I tried to get this mom to see the situation and get help. She ending up paying the ultimate price for her refusal to see the truth with her life in a drive by shooting. Do not give up! These children need our help to grow into responsible adults.
We don’t give up, but our health becomes an issue when we have to take on responsibility for so many. School should t have to be one a place for wrap around services. It’s robbing Peter to save Paul. I sometimes wish birth control, vasectomies, and tubal ligations were mandated! I know it’s not realistic, but...
As a mother, I cannot stand these parents! When parents want honesty, give it to em😉 Honestly, your kid is a....pain in the bottom, with a overly tossed salad brain, who borrows snowglobes without asking for way too long🤣🤣🤣🤷🏾♀️
We had a set of sisters in a school I worked in. They were infamous for "flipping the bird" to any and every adult they worked with. When called on it "Now Susie, don't use your bad finger like that"...their mother had taught them to respond with: "I don't HAVE a bad finger. My mom says ALL my fingers are perfect." This seemed to defeat most of the teachers and admin of the scholl. These girls were bullies and their mother got her way, too. Then comes the day I get little Susie in my class. Oh. Joy. Sure enough, Susie flips me the bird and I call her on it. But, having heard and heard OF her spiel, I was ready: "Why yes, Susie, your fingers are perfect in every way, made by God and glorious. However, the gesture your making with them is called "flipping someone off". It is disrepectful and means something very bad. You are going to stop it now". She did. I was astounded. However that didn't stop her from other problems. We all savored that small victory...
The correct counter response is "Well, your mother may regret that choice when she is visiting you in prison when you turn 19, because she spoiled you and failed in her duty to raise ayou to be a decent human being". And teachers should absolutely be allowed to say it - because teachers are supposed to be honest and tell the truth. ;)
When I worked in Arizona, I had a student who was very disrespectful. Always pushing the dress code. (I don't CARE about dress codes, but the teachers were given that as one of our most important things to do)... so when the girl came in to class and her dress was see-through so I could see her bra and ..... um... her thong, I told her it was not appropriate attire. This wasn't the first time this happened. But this time her mom went batsh*t crazy and told the school she was goign to be getting a restraining order against me. Then I was called on the carpet for being the teacher with the most dress code violation referrals. I asked if administration didn't want me to write up dress code violations, and they quickly said, NO, but you could do it differently." (like how? I had a box of tee-shirts I'd give to kids with inappropriate shirts, they only got written up if they didn't comply) Then another time I was holding voluntary "Saturday School" where kids could come to the school to get one-on-one help for a four hour window of time. I was teaching about fourteen kids (who were voluntarily there on a Saturday) when a mom walked in my classroom to complain about how I was lazy, I refused to help students, and yadayadayada. The irony of her berating me for my laziness while I was giving 4 hours of my saturday time was completely lost to her.
I am so sorry that happened to you. Clearly, you are a teacher who is going above and beyond. Continue to do what you do, those "others" will look ridiculous in their rants.......
Worked in a district that also made a huge deal about the dress code, and then chastised me for enforcing it. I aksed our principal to eitehr give me a signed letter excusing me from being the wardrobe police, or start doing his job and supporting me in doing mine.
Love you Gerry, another homerun!! I had a student who visubly tripped me on purpose. His momma, a 6th grade sped teacher defended him. Not my child, he'd never do that, she tripped! Parents can be insane, just sayin!!!😇
Omg, the THINGS some parents have said to me when I’ve tried to talk to them about their kids...totally unreal!!!! Somebody commented below about how so many kids face no accountability these days, and I agree bc I’ve seen it firsthand!!!!! Good luck this year to ALL school personnel out there and STAY SAFE!!!!!!
Oh my gosh! This senerio works in the childcare environment as well!! We don't discipline little susie that's abuse. Is that little susie on top of McD with her BB gun? Oh sure enough she's just expressing herself!! I will tell you this, if she falls off we are sueing McD's!!
I am an elem. counselor and I had a parent call me because his kid told him he did not want to come to school. I told him it's called tough love. I told him to put the phone on speaker phone so the child could hear me also. I said if he did not listen to his dad that I was coming to his house to bring him to school myself. Let's say about 30 minutes he was at school.
I have a few of those right now... only they contact you to complain about expecting their child to actually do work to get good grades. Or expect ping them to be polite. Or any other normal thing. Reminds me of those stories about parents trying to helicopter their adult children in the work force.
Parent phone calls and parent notes are enough to write volumes. I loved the one parent note asking that we “ask little Johnny if he needed to poop today. He hasn’t pooped and I’m concerned. He doesn’t much like pooping at school, but maybe if you ask him, he will go”. True story!!
Oh, yes, the parent goggles! I howled when the magical, "We don't speak like that at home" came out as a line of defense. I just say that the kid is hearing it from somewhere, and that needs to be addressed at home. Children are empty vessels. You can fill them with kindness and love, or you can fill them with hate and disrespect. What excuses will these parents make if their children make the wrong choices in life and end up on the wrong side of the law?
I used to have a best friend (we’re not BFFs anymore) whose son was a BRAT! She used to pull stuff like this all the time. I can totally believe these are true stories! 😂
At my ELEMENTARY school...true interaction! Principal: "Your son admitted to hiding this bag of marijuana in the school bathroom." Parent: "Can I see it? Yeah, it couldn't have been our son because isn't our brand." True Oregon story...
As a former 3rd grade teacher who had a principal who put cameras in all classrooms & hallways, I am a strong advocate for cameras all around the school. One of my worst behaved students in all of 11 years i was in the classroom, got totally busted in her bullying lie be of the camera filming her offense. Dad was so pissed at our Principal and comes huffing & puffing up to campus only to be met by my principal saying, “Roll the tape.” You should have seen Dad’s face. LOLOLOL!! That principal was the absolute best! She believed teachers first and then parents!
I am out with Covid a student gave me. While I'm gone, I was just told a student stole almost everything off my shelves and out of my personal drawers....including a snow globe I got in Germany. You are dead on.😥
I once had a parent say I was emotionally abusing their son because he threw a tantrum and laid down in the middle of the doorway and I told him to get up so he wouldn’t get trampled as the class was walking in the room. True story.
Well, you could have done what i did on more than one occasion. I said nothing to my student who was laying on the floor and wouldn’t get up. I simply went over stood right next to him so that no kids would accidentally walk on him and instructed everyone to simply leave the room without giving him any attention. These parents and their attention draining kids.... fires me up how much time it took away from my other students.
Oh hello yeah!!! There are some crazy parents out there in this world who think their kids are “angels” and never do anything wrong! Worse yet, they stand behind their child (even when faced with indisputable evidence) rather than assisting the teacher with a perfect teaching moment and the opportunity to create positive behaviors! I was always the first to say “what did you do?” if there were ever problems at school with my own children! I knew I raised them right but things still happen and kids are kids (impulsive). Let’s be realistic here people, kids NEED to learn how to be healthy, happy, and productive citizens, which they WILL NOT learn if someone is always making excuses for their poor decisions and rotten behaviors. Sadly, this kind of stuff happens more often than most people know and it’s some of the reason people either don’t become teachers or retire from teaching early😔
What happened to the old days when parents actually believed teachers and made their children accountable? No wonder kids in college are entitled, lazy, undisciplined ignoramuses who need safe spaces.
You're absolutely correct! Which is a bit surprising because people with classic Barbie avatars are judgmental, condescending simpletons who rely on absurdly simplistic generalizations, right? See how that works?
I laughed at the absurdity...until Principal Brooks revealed these were actual events. While I empathize with the educators, my heart breaks for the children. Oftentimes, parents such as these emotionally & morally handicap their child(ren). Yes, winning/succeeding is preferable to losing/failing. Lying is often easier than telling the truth; blaming others is easier than accepting responsibility. However, one _cannot_ grow & improve if one is never wrong.
One time I had to send a child home because of lice. The next morning the child showed up and the nurse checked her and found nits still in her hair. When they called the mom, she said "well, you should ask her teacher about that because my child didn't have any lice this morning when I checked."
Several years ago in SoCal, an 8-year-old boy didn’t come to school for the first two weeks in the fall. When called his mother said that, “Omar said that school didn’t start until 9/18. He’ll be in on 9/18.” “No, ma’am, school started on 9/1. So will Omar be in school tomorrow?” “No, Omar said school starts on the 18th. He’ll be in on the 18th.” Omar is 8! 8-O
Omg. You been in my room? I had a kid put ice cream in his backpack, the family dog destroyed his backpack to get to the ice cream, and I get an email the next day “Do NOT let T put ice cream in his backpack!!!!!!!! The dog destroyed his pack!!!!!!” Like I told the child to do that. P S. That was the last time I heard from the family ..... despite numerous emails to have a parent teacher conference. Ugh.
