Teachers - tell me about your unhinged parent experiences.

[NC28]

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.

Oh yeah, I've got one. Young person does something criminal which turns out to be just below the threshold of a charging decision but is dealt with through school. Police investigation turns up that the criminality was captured on a certain type of doorbell.

Parents are 100% persuaded the footage is deep-faked. Because random people so often decide to randomly deep fake their own door footage to mock up the image and voice of someone they don't know and who just happened to have been exchanging text messages about meeting up at that exact location an hour earlier...

They hired a barrister.

I had a holiday home in Italy and we would take our little DC out and about. We would be berated by older Italians, in fast fluent Italian for how we dressed them . I studied Italian for years - made no difference. I could never fully understand the problem. They were lovely people, very genuinely concerned as to our slack parenting. It was to do with hot/ cold and what the children might catch. In the end we shrugged it off to cultural differences and smiled sweetly. All DC still alive 20 years on.

This isn’t about unhinged teachers. There are many threads about parents ideas about teachers go and post there instead

That poor teacher. I wish I had more context for my story but unfortunately I was about 8 and just thought it was hilarious at the time. No idea what it was about!

My first week at my current (soon to be departed after 6 years) school. Just after finishing my training placement.

Taking a year ten class with a seating plan. Of course, the children see a new teacher and some children take them mick with it. It's my first day, no chance to get to learn names/faces etc. Seating plans are vital to aid this.

One particular boy is providing typical low level disruption. I warn him according to the name on the plan...then issue him our next sanction up, equaling a detention. I log this then think nothing of it after.... but it strikes me that every time I said the child's 'name,' a few in the room also chuckled.

Yep. Wrong name. Detention for that child retracted, I track down the other kid. Detention set. E-mail sent home explaining the situation.

E-mail received back from parent. Key points as follows.

1. Mother was appalled at my unprofessional-ism in not learning the name of her son.
2. Her child would not be attending the detention.
3. Mother is demanding a written apology to her son for this horrible slight.

I referred it to the HOY and just got on with it. I soon discovered that this delightful boy was in and out of isolation and Mum was in a constant state of war with the powers that be.

Welcome to the NQT year.

Showerflowers

I have just wet myself laughing.

Many years ago I started a long term supply contract to cover a terminally ill teacher at a school. It happend that a week after I started was parents evening. All parents got a letter from head of department saying that X was ill, I was long term cover ending months of short term cover, and while I could not give great feedback at parents evening, it would be a good chance to meet the new teacher if anyone wanted.

One pair of parents ended up being asked to leave and escorted out while they screamed and yelled at myself and head of department for not being able to give detailed reports about their daughter, who I had met once...

that is so outrageously bonkers! - and also quite funny

I'm not a teacher but I still laugh at the memory of a parent in one of my dds class who gave a mug with a photo of their child to the teacher as a thank you gift.
Just what they always wanted.

Regarding residential trips - it's amazing how many parents (and it's getting worse) phone daily for updates from centre, absolutely kick off at kid not responding to constant texts or WhatsApp from home (they are not allowed phones on them on activities), and even turn up at the centre after a couple of days....

I've also had a few children turn up with what is basically a month's supply of sweeties, fizzy drink, chocolate bars, crisps and more. For the whole class. Literally 2.5 litre bottle of pop a day, and multiple other snacks...

Interesting. Do you think this impacts their role in general? As they're primarily there to educate children. By patients, are you a doctor?

Unfortunately this isn’t unusual. In my school there are certain children where they will avoid telling the parents of any issues at school (like homework not completed / being late to lesson etc), because they know it’s likely to have a very unpleasant outcome for the kid when they get home.

I worked in an independent boarding school. One parent wrote to me at the end of the Christmas holiday and said that as her son’s tutor, it was my job to do something about his bad manners, untidiness, rudeness and bad sleeping habits, because it had been driving them nuts all holiday and she wanted it sorted before he came home at Easter.

Another parent said that as her son had got into trouble for larking about between lessons and arriving late, she required me to meet him at the door of each classroom at the end of the lesson and escort him to his next lesson. She said my own classes should start five minutes late and end five minutes early to accommodate this.

I was teaching in the nursery and was accused of giving a child chicken pox (I had had it myself)… said child was devastated to be missing the end of term festivities and it was all my fault.

A parent went batshit crazy at me for not informing her that another child was having a birthday party on the same day as her child. Pardon me for not maintaining a social calendar for her little darling.

i was bellowed at for not doing the birthday candles for a child whose birthday was the day of a school trip. We had been held in traffic getting back and arrived in school, in the pouring rain, at 5pm. Apparently I should’ve arranged the candles for while we were having lunch on the trip - who knew?!

I once had a parent tell me that her child complained she didn't read stories the same I did. That I read them better. She asked me to do bedtime story video each day and post to our then Google Classroom (covid era). I actually did end up doing a story video each day, as I thought it was a nice idea for kids who may not be getting ready to at home. She then complained as I did it for the whole class and should have sent the stories just to him as no one else had asked.

Just seen the post above which reminded me of another incident. Kids usually sent in cake for their birthdays but one day this kid came in with a massive bag. TA opened it to find cake, crisps, sweets, biscuits as well as party plates, table covers, packs of bubbles and a present. She expected us to throw the child a fucking party. The present was for pass the parcel.

Wow they are unhinged !

Allowing the photograph of her child is the final example of the unhingedness of the parent. She had exposed to the public a child whose appearance was distinctive.

I’ve had this with a 16 year old girl on a 3 day choir trip. Parents followed the coach (in convoy) all the way on the 5 hour journey, turned up at every venue and stayed in a hotel 200 yds from or hostel. They still texted and rang the school phone multiple times a day to check on her as well as speaking to her on her phone.

On week residential with year 6. On night 1 one boy was ill- all night. Not enough to call ambulance but enough for staff, me included to watch over him all night. In morning we called family to collect him.
Mum v unhappy but said- oh yes, we thought he wasn’t well. No thanks for watching over her ill child throughout the night.
when we returned the following week, a formal complaint that I had bought all children teddy bears except her child and how dreadful was that. I replied I didn’t have the money to buy 60 children teddy bears but presumably the children had bought them with their own money.
Grrrgh.
So glad I left my children for a week to have to answer a formal complaint about sodding teddy bears. And yes I looked after 60 children having virtually no sleep when she knew her child was ill.

Not a teacher, support staff. I was often contact for parents whose children started mid year, helping them order uniform, paperwork etc. I was helping a mum who had been widowed and moved to her home town with DC. She had 3 children so had a quite a bit of contact.
A few months later she sent me an email asking if a member of staff could speak to the children about the fact they were unhappy she had a boyfriend and to explain to them she had ‘needs’. I really thought she was a sensible parent (we ignored it).

We all covered reception if receptionist was off. I did it once at the end of summer term, virtually no one rings/comes in. Parent comes in screaming rhat she had called 100s of times and no one answered. Phone system logs the last 10 calls and we keep an informal log on the desk. No one had rung in hours. She still put a complaint in about me.

Loads of threatening parents over mobile phones being confiscated. Loads. Gets a bit boring in fact. Yes we can confiscate it, no you can’t ring the police to say we’ve stolen it (but please do) blah blah. Yes we can take jewellery etc off them too, no I don’t care how much it cost, don’t wear it.
i had a great head who would try and give them a letter to deregister their child (just needed names and signature adding) if they weren’t happy with the school rules. Shut them up every time.

Because it shows with other examples given how bonkers the parent was. The weight of the child was such that he was easily identifiable and the parent chose to expose him to the public by agreeing that he could have his photo taken.

That's a cracker 😂 and well done you for doing it.
I'm a retired teacher and worked with lovely children and parents but the best batshit thing that happened was when a mum asked the Head Teacher, no less, to cut the ends off her son's fries, 'cuz our Michael don't like the spiky bits'. Goodness knows what she thought he did all day.

I've told this before but it's worth another airing! A High School in what's perceived to be a rough part of the NW, we were the first school in our city to have a Leavers' Party at a hotel, before Proms became the name. Year 11 were told in September about this, much excitement, they were told they had a clean behaviour sheet but any more that two suspensions meant they couldn't come, parents told this too. Sadly a couple of the boys were banned but one of the mothers wouldn't have it, all the excuses under the sun, and on the evening when a coach was outside school to take them to the venue, she came with her son, demanding he go being told again No. She then sat down in front of the coach, many of the kids were urging the coach driver to inch forward, one of the staff offered him a fiver! Eventually she moved but it started the evening off in high spirits!

Reminds me of the dad who came to the school office demanding his parking fine reimbursed - he had been parked on the zigzags. He was absolutely outraged when the headteacher refused and then demanded that parents be allowed to park on the playground at drop off and pick up time. This despite the fact that the classroom doors open onto the playground. Bonkers!