Even if you were the biggest goody two-shoes in elementary school, there was probably something ridiculous you got in trouble for.
A while back, we rounded up a Reddit thread about some of the stupidest things people got in trouble for as kids — and y'all had SO much to add in the comments! Here are some of the best responses from the BuzzFeed Community.
1. This teacher wouldn't let a kid go to the bathroom:
"I was done with my work, so I got up to go to the bathroom, and my teacher straight-up YELLED AT ME, saying not to get up. I raised my hand for what felt like a million years, and she finally called on me. I asked her if I could go to the bathroom and she told me, 'Oh, you don't have to ask. You can just get up and go.' Still salty."
2. This kid got in trouble for not making a Mother's Day card:
"When I was in fifth grade, I got in trouble for not making a Mother’s Day card. I have been at this school for six years. My mother walked out on my dad and me. Literally everyone there knows this. I got suspended for that."
3. This kid got in trouble for having a nontraditional name for their gender:
"I got in trouble and refused a paper by a sub because of my name and gender. My name is rare but is typically used for guys. We had a sub ... she was calling up people to get their papers. She gets to me and she goes, 'You're not [name],' and I go, 'Yes, I am, I will grab my ID. Give me my paper.' She goes, 'No, go sit down.' I cross my arms and go, "I'm [name], give me my paper, please.' She ignores me and goes to EVERY GUY and asks if their name is [my name]. When they all say no, she goes, 'Hmm, HE must not be here today.' I get furious and go, 'IT'S ME.' And all my friends and the WHOLE class ... scream at her, 'THAT'S [NAME], GIVE HER HER PAPER!' She glared and threw the paper at me, then held me back so I was late to [my next] class for disrespecting a teacher."
4. This teacher was just straight-up wrong:
"In like kindergarten we were only let outside if we said a word that began with 'E.' I was the first person to be called on, and I said the word 'eye.' The teacher told me that I couldn’t go outside, and after I spelled it out for her, she sent me to the office."
5. This kid was told they "weren't allowed to bleed in class"(???):
"I got kicked out of math class because I absentmindedly scratched a popped pimple and it bled. Teacher said we weren't allowed to bleed in his class. I so badly wanted to say, 'OK, I'll see you in a week!'"
6. This child was told their drawing was "unrealistic":
"We were coloring some pages, and I figured I'd color the girl like me. Now, I remembered my mom told me once that my hair was 'half brunette, half blonde' (I had natural streaks of blonde in my mostly dark-brown hair), so I colored the girl's hair literally half brown, half yellow. The teacher told me it was wrong and unnatural and asked the whole class to boo at me. It was pre-K; I was 4. My mom, being the coolest human on the planet, keeps that drawing to this very day and likes to show it off."
7. This kid just didn't want to get bird poop on them:
"When I was in third grade, there was this rule that we all had to sit with our backs up against the balcony railing (we were in an upstairs classroom). Some bird had shat on where I was sitting, and there wasn't anywhere else to sit, so I sat forward a bit — 10 minutes out of my lunchtime."
8. This student literally just said, "Oh my goodness":
"I got sent to the principal's office and paddled in first grade for saying, 'Oh my goodness!' I went to a private Christian school, and apparently that's the same as taking the Lord's name in vain."
9. This child was punished for not being able to fall asleep:
"I've had trouble sleeping all my life, so once, in preschool during naptime, I was lying on my cot, awake, playing with my sleeping bag. My teacher came over to me, crouched down, and started whisper-shouting at me. telling me that I had to go to sleep, and when I said I couldn't, she dug her pointy nails under my jaw and told me that if I didn't fall asleep, I'd have to go to the principal's office. I got in trouble for borderline insomnia. Isn't that grand?"
10. This kid literally just sneezed:
"My English teacher yelled at me for sneezing in class and then gave three people demerits when they said, 'Bless you!'"
11. This girl got in trouble for literally being assaulted:
"I was in kindergarten when a kid in second grade put his hand up my skirt...so I pushed him away. I was kicked off the bus because of hitting, and he was not reprimanded AT ALL. Good life lessons there, huh?"
12. And this girl was just defending herself:
"We were once playing chase when I was in Year 2. A boy pinned me up against the wall and held me there for ages. He was right in my face. I was getting panicked. I was 6; it felt like it would be years until the end of break. I kept begging him to let me go and he wouldn’t, so I kicked him. Hard. I got in so much trouble; nothing happened to him."
13. This poor child just needed some lip balm:
"One time in my kindergarten class, a kid cut in front of me in line. I was, of course, upset, so I told the teacher, who told me not to tattle. I was angry, but I got over it. Later in the day, I was licking my lips because they were chapped, and the teacher gave me a red card because she said I was sticking my tongue out at the kid who had cut me in line."
14. This child was punished for the vaguest reason:
"I took off my hat 'with attitude.' I don’t even know how that makes sense."
15. This kid got in trouble for knowing how to spell their last name:
"I got in trouble because I disagreed with my teachers about the spelling of my last name. Out of the three of them, not a single one knew how to spell it correctly. I was so proud of myself because it's not an easy name and I had finally learned how to spell it correctly, but they proceeded to unteach me and were awful when I told them they were wrong. Let's just say that my mom was pissed when I came home crying."
16. This child got in trouble for getting hurt:
"In first grade, I got in trouble for 'getting hurt too many times.' I have delicate bones and I was very active, so my teacher didn’t believe me when I hit my head on the monkey bars, and she wouldn’t let me go to the nurse. I had a big purple bruise on my forehead!!!!"
17. As did this kid:
"In fifth grade (I think), I was cutting some paper out when I ended up accidentally cutting part of my finger. Blood started going everywhere, and the kid next to me began barfing. The teacher threw a Band-Aid at me and said we both would have to stay after school to clean up our mess and for detention."
18. And this one:
"In fifth grade, I was playing volleyball in gym class, and when I jumped to spike the ball, my left knee twisted twice and I landed on it. I was in so much pain. All I could do was scream, and because I have Asperger's, it was difficult for me to communicate what happened, so the teacher assumed that I was screaming because I fell but that I was not injured. They forced me to walk around with my knee all swollen and never sent me to the nurse or even called my mom! Mom was livid that nobody told her that I got injured at school and that they ignored it. ... It turned out I sprained my knee badly and was on crutches for two months, missed two weeks of school, and had to do a month of physical therapy."
19. This student was punished for spelling their name with a "K":
"My name is spelled 'Kourtney,' and in kindergarten my teacher yelled at me for purposely spelling my name wrong, but fortunately, one of my aunt's friends worked in the office and corrected the teacher."
20. This kid got in trouble for following instructions:
"OK, so my teacher had this song about emotions, and she would make facial expressions and we had to copy her. So everyone was doing the song as usual, and she yelled at me for making faces at her. I'm like, 'Yes, I am making faces at you, I'm supposed to.' I cried the whole day because little second-grade me was terrified."
21. This student got in trouble without even being in school:
"I remember once, my friend Corey was getting yelled at during independent-work time or whatever, and my teacher was angry that he 'wouldn’t be quiet.' We all look around, and he literally wasn’t even at school that day."
22. This kid just wanted to be fashionable:
"I got yelled at in sixth grade for wearing a fingerless glove Michael Jackson–style. The teacher, whom I never liked, said that I 'didn't need to wear them inside.' In my head, I went '???' because I wasn't messing with it or anything. All I was doing was wearing a pink, fingerless glove. I was pissed."
23. This poor sick student apparently used the wrong choice of words:
"In the second grade, I wasn’t feeling well and asked if I could go to the restroom 'to barf.' The teacher said I could, so I ran from class and made it in time to barf. I returned from class, and the teacher told me to go to the office. I thought I was seeing the nurse and calling my parents...I was sent to the principal’s office and was severely scolded for saying 'barf' and not 'vomit' or 'throw up.'"
24. This kid apparently had "too many erasers" (???):
"When I was in fifth grade, I got in trouble for having 'too many erasers.' I had about three erasers, but a kid who hated me had put a bunch of other erasers in my desk before I got there. I’ve had ADHD, so I can see how having too many erasers was disruptive, but 99% of the ones in my desk weren’t even mine. But my teacher wouldn’t listen, and she sent me home with a paper bag full of the erasers that was STAPLED SHUT so I couldn’t open it, and a note to my mom about me being disruptive."
25. This child got detention for being bullied:
"I know someone who, in elementary school, got shoved into a locker and got detention for it. 'If you’re dumb enough to let it happen, you can serve the detention' is what the principal said. This was back in the '80s."
26. This student was reprimanded for reading:
"I also got in trouble (sent to office, parents called) because during recess, I preferred to read quietly at a bench on the playground by myself. I was *not* very athletic and was bullied during this period, so reading was my outlet/comfort. Apparently a kid reading during school recreation time is bad."
27. This child was told they were "unbalanced" because they liked to look out the window:
"I was supposed to be in a 'gifted and talented' program, but my middle school was so small that it didn't have one. I was so bored in English class that i would frequently stare out the window. My English teacher wrote a note to my parents and the school principal stating that i was 'disturbed and unbalanced' BECAUSE I STARED OUT OF THE WINDOW DURING HER CLASS. My mother was livid. After that, and because of her letter, the principal let me do independent study during English, and she became my de facto English teacher. The actual English teacher was let go about six months later because a parent saw her drinking from a flask in her car before school began."
28. This student got in trouble for having an asthma attack:
"When I was in sixth grade, I got sent to the office with a write-up for having an asthma attack. The teacher said the next person to make a sound would be sent to the office. I reached into my desk to get my inhaler and was noisy. When I explained, she doubled down and gave me detention. My mom had to come to the school and argue with my teacher to stop me from getting punished."
29. This kid was punished for not being able to whistle:
"In preschool, they were teaching us how to whistle. They gave us instructions on how to do it and made us practice. I couldn’t (and still can’t) whistle. I was then sent to time-out for not following directions."
30. This student was punished for finishing an assignment too quickly:
"A substitute teacher once kicked me out of class for finishing my math assignment too fast. When I handed it in way before everyone else, the teacher didn't believe that I had done the work by myself, accused me of cheating, and sent me to the principal. Thankfully, the principal knew that I am very good with numbers and gave me a book to read until next period."
31. And finally, this kid got in trouble for being diabetic:
"A girl in my class is diabetic and got in trouble 'cause her glucose monitor was too loud."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.