Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Teachers - tell me about your unhinged parent experiences.

438 replies

NC28 · 11/06/2025 16:47

Purely for entertainment purposes , of course.

Inspired by the thread about the teacher who got an email from a kids mum because the staff didn’t buy her daughter flowers after the school show…what other unhinged, entitled or downright crazy things have parents moaned about at your school?

Parents are fucking lunatics at times, so I hope you all have WhatsApp groups with your colleagues to laugh at them in your spare time.

OP posts:
Overandout12345 · 17/06/2025 19:38

FanofLeaves · 11/06/2025 17:49

I worked on a residential once as a teaching assistant and the parents of one 10 year old booked the hotel nearest the youth hostel we were staying at in the Peaks, just to keep an eye apparently. It was mortifying for the poor kid. They’d trail behind us on walks and wave from a distance when they saw us out and about. They obviously knew the itinerary and they appeared wherever we went. Never made contact, just looked on. So weird. They travelled back in their car behind the coach and even stopped at the same services en route home.

Edited

I fear this would be me 😂

Overandout12345 · 17/06/2025 20:08

ThriveAT · 11/06/2025 22:08

The shocking thing is that none of this is surprising to those who work in schools - the abuse, the entitlement, the projection all take their toll on school staff. Society is broken beyond belief, parents are under tremendous pressure and schools / social services are operating in a shoestring budget that is untenable. Then there is that other elephant in the room teachers have to contend with: toxic leadership that drives you into the ground with 70 hour weeks and out-of-touch expectations that keep you spinning like a crazed hamster. I fear for the future of the nation.

Edited

So true! I have BEGGED my mum to stop teaching as it is making her so miserable, and the kids bully her, spit at her, disrespect her, boys intimate her on purpose, but the parents are the worst. Take absolutely no responsibility for their children and have literally told their children infront of my mum that they don’t need to respect her. She won’t leave because their is genuinely some nice children who deserve eduction. I absolutely despise some people!

BertieBotts · 17/06/2025 21:35

cramptramp · 16/06/2025 22:30

Teaching must have been so much easier when I was at school in the 60’s. We, and lots of other people where I lived, didn’t have a phone in the house so school was never contacted. We walked to and from school alone from a very young age so parents didn’t even see our teachers.

This is actually still what it's like in Germany. Very rare to be contacted by the teacher!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General education
Beautifulspringsunshine · 17/06/2025 22:01

Grammarninja · 15/06/2025 12:02

The nail thing, I totally get. You wouldn't believe, as a teacher, the amount of parent meetings/emails that come in because their kid has been gouged by another child's dirty, long nail. It's a fair concern tbh.

Show quote history

They're also a nightmare in small children for harbouring thread worm eggs 🤢

vipersnest1 · 17/06/2025 23:02

Uricon2 · 17/06/2025 16:55

Musing on this and a bit more on topic, I don't remember seeing much unhinged parent behaviour. One or two of the more challenging would say "I'll tell my Dad and he'll come up the school". Never saw evidence of this actually happening. TBH I think a child complaining about anything would be far more likely to be asked what they'd done to deserve it. Bit of a double edged sword that.

I had this several years back - and the students meant it. I used to tell them to be sure to tell their dad to make an appointment with the school office.

WearyAuldWumman · 17/06/2025 23:06

vipersnest1 · 17/06/2025 23:02

I had this several years back - and the students meant it. I used to tell them to be sure to tell their dad to make an appointment with the school office.

Edited
Show quote history

Can't remember whether I've mentioned upthread, but I had a formal investigation for bullying after a senior girl claimed that I'd bullied her - her mother complained to the Year Head.

Each pupil in the class was questioned. Their story matched the girl's...I had to told her to be quiet while the class was working.

Thewholebloodylot · 18/06/2025 09:04

BertieBotts · 16/06/2025 22:17

Some people do scream when they become angry. Or perhaps we have a different definition of screaming. To me screaming is not a huge step from shouting, it's sort of shouting when the person's voice has become distorted.

Yes it's a soap opera but just as an example:

0:44 "What's it got to do with you anyway?" / "It's got everything to do with me!" = shouting

0:47 "You ain't going anywhere!!" / "Watch me!!" = screaming.

What? What are you time stamping?

BertieBotts · 18/06/2025 10:05

Thewholebloodylot · 18/06/2025 09:04

What? What are you time stamping?

Show quote history

The video that I linked? Does it not show up? It's included in your quote Confused

Thewholebloodylot · 18/06/2025 10:23

BertieBotts · 18/06/2025 10:05

The video that I linked? Does it not show up? It's included in your quote Confused

Show quote history

Can’t see any link

BertieBotts · 18/06/2025 10:33

It's the Eastenders scene "you ain't my mother yes I am"

zingally · 18/06/2025 10:34

I was teaching Year 1 at the time, and we'd been discussing weddings during RE. I said, completely throw-away, that you can actually marry anyone you like now, apart from your family, and isn't that lovely?
The next day, a dad comes storming in to ask me why I'm promoting gay marriage? HE believes the bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman, and he doesn't want his son learning about "the gays".

I fixed him with my deadliest teacher glare and replied, "The bible also teaches us to love our neighbour." Then I turned and walked away. What a cockwomble.

I did report the exchange to my then-headteacher, herself a real bible-thumper, but never heard another word about it.

JudgeJ · 18/06/2025 10:57

I had this several years back - and the students meant it. I used to tell them to be sure to tell their dad to make an appointment with the school office.

I once had a mother inform me that she was going into town to report me to th'offce, as I was going that way and it was raining I offered her a lift! She noisily declined!

Lorddenning1 · 02/07/2025 23:29

.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page