8 ridiculous things parents have said to teachers

Teacher Parent Relationship

Teachers are among some of the most trusted professionals in the world but also - in the UK at least - some of the most likely to throw in the towel and leave their job.

This contradiction may have something to do with the slightly less-than-trusting attitude of some parents towards the educators of their children - particularly when they themselves are at risk of looking bad.

Online forum Reddit received a flood of both humorous and deadly serious answers to the question: "What's the craziest thing a parent has said to you?"

1. "I don't understand why he's acting up in school. He's got the house to himself."

Not everyone can believe discipline in the classroom is not automatic

The 13- or 14-year-old student had already been expelled from the area for two years previously, said the teacher.

"Turns out Mom lived with her boyfriend in another town. The kid literally had the house to himself," they wrote on Reddit.

2. "You have edited the CCTV so it shows my son stealing."

Another parent point-blank refused to accept visual evidence of her child's criminal behaviour, believing the teachers to be fraudsters instead.

"We showed a mother CCTV footage of her son stealing a teacher's wallet. The mother said we had 'used our digital editing department to superimpose her son's head onto another student's body,'" said the teacher.

"We didn't even have a library, let alone a digital editing department."

3. "I pay $12,000 dollars a year for him to go to this school. That is enough reason for you to increase his grade."

In response to the parent's statement, this particular physics teacher worked out the cost of selling an "A" grade for money, accounting for possible criminal charges and the years ahead of his retirement.

Accounting for them all, including inflation, he worked out the cost of the "A" to be about $5 million.

4. "Please tell my child you love her once a day."

One parent thought their daughter needed to be told she was loved by her teacher every day

A parent asked the teacher if they could whisper "I love you" to her five-year-old daughter once a day, because the child was reportedly not getting enough attention in class.

"After some incessant nagging, I did it at once and immediately felt creepy and sinister," the teacher wrote.

5. "I make more money than you do, so I'm right."

Many teachers also wrote how depressing it was to see parents treating their kids poorly

This is what one teacher heard a parent say to their colleague as a way of settling an argument.

As long as he didn't make more than £10,000 a month, she said, his opinion did not matter to her.

 

6. "Your musical piece is inspired by the devil and my daughter will not be playing in it."

A teacher was rehearsing a well-known piece called "Incantations" with his students in orchestra.

He was surprised to receive a furious email from a father claiming the piece "Incarnations", as he understood it was a Satanic verse and his daughter would not be playing in anymore.

7. "We don't call him a liar. We say he's a storyteller."

Some parents were not clear about the line between creativity and dishonesty

 This teacher said they had to restrain themselves from using an expletive in response.

 

8. "The one thing you were supposed to not tell them was that you have lice."

These were the words one parent said to their child in front of the teacher.

The teacher had to intervene to tell the parent off, before the parent took the student home to punish them instead.

Needless to say, this particular teacher found they too had the "cooties" a short time later.