A former Reddit user asked the Reddit community: "Teachers of Reddit: Who was the absolute worst parent you had to deal with?"
Teachers didn't hold ANYTHING back, and rightfully so. They're the unsung heroes of the world, and deserve 100% better (especially when it comes to dealing with entitled parents).
So, here are some of the absolute worst parents who mistreated their kiddos' teachers:
Note: Some stories include topics of verbal abuse and child abuse. Please proceed with caution.
1. "A parent caused a huge fuss with the district until ALL FOUR of her children were tested and 'qualified' for special ed services (I say 'qualified' because they were all, in fact, not qualified). She wouldn't take no for an answer, and even brought in a lawyer. The district finally gave in and tested them again, and lo and behold, they 'qualified.' I found out later that when you have a child in special ed, the parent can get a SSI check for them from the government. There were other run-ins with this parent over several years (I knew whenever she was in the office because she was always yelling, and she had a distinct voice). It got to the point where I would start panicking whenever I heard her come in."
2. "I was hired as an eighth grade ancient world history teacher in a pretty awesome school district. It was my first week on the job, and I was teaching hominids. I walked into the main office on Friday morning (15 minutes before home room started) to make a few copies. Suddenly, as I was about to walk out, the main office secretary said: 'Oh, here he comes now.' My first thought was: 'Fuck' as I looked at this intense father. He asked me if I had a moment, and motioned to the conference room 10 feet away. He guided me over to the room as if he worked there, asked me to have a seat, and proceeded to shut the door. He then blasted me for teaching his daughter about Lucy, the infamous Australopithecus discovered in Ethiopia. He explained that what I was teaching to his daughter was a lie created by the government as a way to take our love away from Jesus."
"His evidence for this viewpoint was that because 'if evolution existed, then the sun would be larger, and it would have swallowed the Earth a millennia ago.' I was dumbfounded.
Since it was my first week at this school, I had to just sit there and take the verbal abuse. We eventually reached an agreement where I would remove his daughter from class for the rest of the hominid unit, and create alternative assignments for her to complete.
Worst of all, since I was so accommodating to his daughter, he told me he'd request that his youngest son be placed in my class — so, I have to go through this headache all over again."
3. "I'm a band director, and we helped beginners select their instruments. We hosted a band drive for the parents to come buy the instruments. A mom came in with her son (who we had playing trumpet) and was clearly upset. She said she didn't want him playing an instrument 'that loud' in her house, and then refused to listen when I discussed options for practicing. Her son suggested the flute, and she immediately snapped back: 'Absolutely not — that is a girl instrument!' I mentioned that many/most professional flutists are male, and she responded: 'You know, I'm old — you're not going to change my mind. There are boy instruments, and there are girl instruments.' Then she made the mistake of asking what instrument I played — I'm a percussionist. I'm a girl who plays a 'boy' instrument."
4. "My sister-in-law is a preschool teacher, and she had these adorable little twin girls in her class. They were very sweet, but came from a bad home environment. They had pretty, long, blonde hair, but they were always getting head lice. One day they came to school both crawling with lice, so the teachers had no choice but to call their father to take them home and treat the lice. The father got angry, tried to argue that it was the school's responsibility, but the teachers held firm. So, the father came to school and took the little girls home — 20 minutes later, he returned, having shaved both the little girls' beautiful hair right off. He left them there for the remainder of the school day."
5. "I had a 14-year-old student who was reading at a second grade level. I had him read out loud a third grade literature book to me in private because he couldn't be trusted to read it on his own. We answered the questions together, and he wrote out the answers himself. His father called and complained to the vice principal that I had been too hard on his son, and was 'trying to fill his head with ideas.' Sorry for trying to teach your kid how to read..."
6. "One time a child peed all over the bathroom in the school. When we brought it up with the parent, they demanded to know why we didn't teach them how to properly use the bathroom."
7. "I had a 'pray-away-the-gay' pair of parents who thought that the school was 'teaching their child to be gay' because some of our teachers were gay. They also thought I was deeply religious (because they wanted to believe it) and therefore 'on their side.' Wrong on both counts. They jumped to the conclusion after I said that I thought it was important that parents instill a strong moral code in their children. I left off that their bullshit beliefs do not make a strong moral code. Their son talked to me about 'alternative' sexuality; I told him that he was a great kid, and was on track to becoming a great adult, and that who he fell in love with was his business and his only. He did not share his feelings/ideas with his parents. I sincerely hope he moves away to university and never, ever, ever again talks to his parents. They are poison."
8. "I'm a preschool teacher. Being non-medically certified, the only 'first aid' me and my two other coworkers could administer was soap, water, and your basic Band-Aid or gauze/tape. We had a child whose parent worked in a nearby office building, and she wanted to be called every single time her little angel got a boo-boo. Apparently, our Band-Aids weren't good enough, and she needed to come put one on herself."
9. "I had a parent with a 6-year-old son. She wasn't married, didn't work, or have any other kids, so this boy was her universe. He had special needs, so she became a self-taught expert on childhood developmental disorders. She stayed in my classroom all day and interrupted my instructions if she felt it wasn't suited for her child. I got daily emails (that were cc'd to my principal, superintendent, and resource department head) telling me what I did 'wrong' that day, and how to improve my teaching methods."
"She also contacted the district office to file an official complaint about me. Why? Because I wouldn't allow her son to go into the girls' bathroom. According to her, he's 6 and curious, and had every right to 'satisfy his curiosity.' When she was told that the female students had a right to privacy, she said: 'I don't care about those other kids!'"
10. "A 32-year-old mom with a 15-year-old daughter wanted me as her teacher to deal with the emotional troubles the kid had. The mom left her daughter for a year and a half to 'have a real life' with her lover, and set some limits because she 'does what she wants and never obeys me.' The woman refused to take any responsibility for her daughter's issues, and refused to seek therapy for her family."
11. "I tutor young kids at a center in an affluent suburb (I want you to picture these 'pushy' parents, and then collate them in one spot — BAM. You have my place of work). Every week, I'd tutor this child (let's call him Colin). Colin was a good kid — sometimes a bit slow at doing work, but we got through it. About two hours after every session, his mum would call and complain, telling us he didn't do enough work. The following week she complained and said we overworked him, and that he was overtired when he returned home. This all accumulated to the mother wanting to pull him out, and during his last session, the owner had a chat with Colin. He asked him if he liked being tutored, and he responded that he loved it — it was the best part of his week. I'll never forget his sad little face when he left. Poor child."
12. "I used to be an assistant teacher at a daycare (I'm a man). This one parent made it very clear that this wasn't 'a man's workplace.' She would give me gifts at the end of the year for Christmas, like handbag holders and lipstick with a smirk on her face. She wrote my name on them and made it clear it wasn't a mistake. I didn't give a shit, though — I learned she spread nasty things about me to other parents. She was just a jerk in general."
13. "My mom's a teacher and told the superintendent of the school board that a parent supposedly called her several times. Upon her investigation, she realized she had several missed calls, all within a couple of hours. So, she called the man back — the man's name was Mort, a parent who had recently moved to the area. He was wondering what time school started in the morning. Upon explaining that classes started at 8:30 a.m., Mort simply said: 'Yeah, that's not going to work for us. We usually don't go to bed until about 2 a.m.' I've never been told the details of how my mom responded, but this was just the tip of the iceberg."
14. "I teach high school psych and sociology, but this happened to a colleague of mine who teaches Spanish. She had a student in her first block class who'd sleep during every class. For the first two weeks, the Spanish teacher did everything she could to get his head off the desk, but it was a battle that she was losing. So, she called the boy's mother to enlist her help. She informed the mom that her kid had an F in class, and was going to flunk Spanish unless he stopped sleeping. She suggested to the mom that she get her kid to go to bed at a decent hour so he'd stay awake in school. The parent told the teacher there was nothing she could do with her child — it was the teacher's responsibility to wake her kid up."
15. "I used to teach at a school in a really wealthy area. The worst parents I had to deal with were the ones who believed teaching their kids how to get away with something was more important than reinforcing the idea that they should learn to accept responsibility for their own actions. At that school, I would end up in the principal's office with parents, a student, and their lawyer. I answered questions about whether I could PROVE that the student plagiarized and had not simply handed in a paper written by someone else by accident."
16. And: "My mom's a second grade teacher, and the school she works at uses MacBooks and iPads rather than Windows products. She received an email from a parent that read: 'Dear Mrs. ______, I'm sending a Windows laptop to school that I personally configured for my daughter. I will not have my daughter being taught to use an Apple product. I work for a major computer technician company, and I can personally attest to the fact that everything Apple makes is pure garbage. You're hurting the students more than helping them, as every major company uses Windows software. I am also going to file a complaint with the school board. I know this is not your fault, but I know there is something you could do to stop it.'"
Note: Some stories have been edited for length and/or clarity.