Apparently I am a shouty teacher, I always shout and her son hates me.

[Namechanged4areason]

Today a boy in my class (p/t doing maternity cover) did something to another child which was clearly unpleasant and uncalled for. He is 5.

So I told his mum, look this is what he did. As usual, he must have done that because he was provoked, to which I replied it doesn't matter what the other boy did, your son should not have done it - he knows better than that. Then she went on a tirade about how her son hates me because I always shout at him and the rest of the class and all the other mums say the same thing. Deflecting somewhat? Absolutely!

But it really upset me, even though at the time I was very professional and cool. I think what upset me more was that I stood there and let her talk to me like that. And I have a lovely class and hardly ever have to raise my voice.

[Salonikia]

I teach in a secondary school and I know exactly what you are talking about. There are some very unreasonable parents out there, unable to see that their child could be at fault sometimes too. Talk about rose tinted glasses! But then again you hear colleagues saying stupid things some times like "kids don't lie" - they do, practically all of them peaking at age 12, it 's part of their normal development and they need guidance. Unfortunately kids that don't learn how to take responsibility for their actions, don't mature a great deal emotionally. and then don't forget, they eventually become parents too..

[Feenie]

You know better - ignore, ignore, ignore and drink .

[snowmummy]

I've just returned to teaching and I think things have become a lot worse on this score. There are parents out there, who seem to take no responsibility for their children and teach them that nothing is their fault. Absolutely crazy!

[Dominodonkey]

Yes- some parents love a bit of deflection. I co- teach a 6th form class and my colleague phoned a parent to say she was very disappointed that her daughter had plagiarised course work. The mums response was that she was very disappointed in us for not helping her daughter. We had run lots of extra sessions, had had lots of her class coming to see us for feedback but the daughter hadnt bothered to ask for help.

[HarrietSchulenberg]

It doesn't improve when they get to university. Parents threatening to "sue" ( ) because the daughter didn't get a job when she graduated. Daughter scraped a third and did bog all to help her employment prospects with extra-curricular activities while a student. They were supplied with a lorry load of evidence of daughter's failure to engage with what was on offer and given details of uni's lawyers. At which point they f*cked off, never to be heard of again.

[littlestressy]

Ignore, ignore, ignore....then laugh about them all when you get home. I have so many silly parents at the moment who can't believe that their perfect little Johnny or Jane could ever do anything wrong....it must be the fault of someone else of course!!!

[clam]

Console yourself with the thought that as of 3 weeks' time this child won't be your problem anymore. But he'll continue to be hers for many years to come.