Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

to be mystified why school would call me for this?

91 replies

whatthehell123 · 15/12/2016 13:06

So apparently my year 1 so this morning whilst doing some sticking / cutting decided it would be a good idea to cut " a tiny " piece of his hair during this activity
This apparently warranted a phone call home from a member of staff I don't know to tell me, who said they had a long chat about why he did it and he said the piece of hair was annoying him.
Is this really something they need to call home about / have a long chat about?
Surely it's because he is 6 and was probably bored.

OP posts:

BoomBoomsCousin · 15/12/2016 13:57

I think it's way overboard, but I don't think it's just because teachers are terrified of parents' reactions "these days". Some one did this when I was in YR1 40+ years ago. They banned scissors for the whole class for a term. There is something in our culture that has large numbers of parents up in arms about young children's hair and has done for generations.

WhatHaveIFound · 15/12/2016 14:03

Are you sure it's just a tiny piece?

I always remember being met at the school door by a TA who told me that DD (in Reception at the time) had falled over earlier in the day and had a 'slight graze'.

It turned out to be a swollen face, puffed up eye and a graze covering almost a third of her face. They hadn't even phoned me either.

Original poster

whatthehell123 · 15/12/2016 14:09

I will report back and let you all know if it was a tiny piece,
He has quite floppy curly hair so unless it was LOADS you probably couldn't tell 😃

OP posts:

steppemum · 15/12/2016 14:13

dd2 was bored one day in reception, so she cut off a huge chunk of her hair. All the section from her parting down to her ear, it was shoulder length, she cut it off to nose length.
It wasn't the first - or the last- time she did it, but I remember picking her up, the staff were all rallying round to apologies and reassure. The deputy head was floating round the classroom too. I laughed and said well, she will have to live with it, lesson learnt, and there was a massive collective letting out of breath.

Thing is, I am a nice parent! and a governor, and had 2 older kids in school, and rarely complained and then always nicely, but still they were very worried about my reaction, which just goes to show how many parents would kick off over this.

SomewhatIdiosyncratic · 15/12/2016 14:14

Bless you OP, you sound so reasonable, and the school sound caring too

I had to cut a chunk off DS's hair when he was 2, after he managed to wind it into the axle of a battery operated train. Right down to his scalp. Right on the crown. He had a thumb print sized bald patch for a while while it grew back!

CondensedMilkSarnies · 15/12/2016 14:16

Poor schools - damned if they do , damned if they don't .

DD's school called me to say she had hiccups and what did they want me to do about it

CondensedMilkSarnies · 15/12/2016 14:17

what did I want them to do about it .

Original poster

whatthehell123 · 15/12/2016 14:19

It just seemed she was almost asking me if there was some underlying reason why he would have done this with this " long chat " and " getting to the root of it " 😂
I didn't quite know what to say so I just said " ok thanks for calling " 😂

OP posts:

DaCapoAlFine · 15/12/2016 14:19

YANBU OP, but it's the times we live in, and it's crap.

I'm a teacher, and I've reached the point where I'm scared to do anything in school, and I'm quitting next term because of it. Everything I say or do, I'm imagining how it'll be misrepresented by a child, or deliberately twisted by a parent so that they can be affronted/outraged/furious etc, or just cause offence somehow because I can't offer a 100% personally tailored service to each and every child, meeting their parents' exact requirements for every minute of the day in the most tiny amount of detail! I've always been very dedicated and am good at my job, but have realised that nowadays most parents are just horrible and are looking for reasons, however small, to be livid etc with teachers, and they see them as fair game.

Letmesleepalready · 15/12/2016 14:21

DD cut off the hair at the top of her head, when she was 2, at home. I had to do a weird half pixie cut to hide it. I expect it to happen at school too, although she wants long hair like Elsa now so maybe not.

FlyingElbows · 15/12/2016 14:25

I once got a call from school because Ds1 wasn't happy that there was cheese in his lunchbox sandwich. They never did that again. Wtf happened to just telling them to eat it anyway because children are starving in other countries?!

reallyanotherone · 15/12/2016 14:25

Bear in mind too that quite apart from the danger this is a childs appearance we're talking about. A dodgy hairstyle can be on the same scale as facial disfigurement to some parents. "You've ruined my childs looks"!

My dd gave herself a very bad haircut once. People couldn't believe that i hadn't severely punished her, bought her a wig/hat, and i "actually let her go out like that"

For every parent that thinks its "just hair", there are more that see it as a "crowning glory"

JustSpeakSense · 15/12/2016 14:25

I'm guessing it was not a tiny bit of hair, and they wanted to forewarn you before you collected him and have a strong reaction at the school gates.

Original poster

whatthehell123 · 15/12/2016 14:27

Well unless he's completely bald there won't be s strong reaction / barely any reaction at the school gates so they're in for a shock 😂

OP posts:

DixieWishbone · 15/12/2016 14:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

spiderlight · 15/12/2016 14:38

My DS's Y1 NQT, who spent her entire first year at the school looking like a rabbit in headlights. was terrified coming to the door to tell me he'd cut a chunk out of his hair. Her voice was properly shaking - I don't know what reaction she was expecting because I'm not scary in the slightest! I can still remember the look of relief on her face when I just laughed :D

Hope your DS's hair isn't too awful! No idea why it would warrant a call home.

tiggytape · 15/12/2016 14:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AladdinsPurpleSparklyCarpet · 15/12/2016 14:43

My much older than yours dd cut a fair chunk of her hair last week while cutting out something on paper.

I can only think she was leaning over.

My only thought was not to ban scissors but that DD was a complete numpty

Original poster

whatthehell123 · 15/12/2016 14:44

Sorry but I did laugh at " poor DS " who decided to cut a bit off as it was " annoying him "
He's a clown at the best of times so this hasn't surprised me in the slightest being his latest antic 😂

OP posts:

BorpBorpBorp · 15/12/2016 14:45

When I was at primary school a girl got her hair bobble tangled in about 5 strands of hair, and the teacher cut the bobble to get it out, because "I'm sure your mum wouldn't want me cutting your hair."

KERALA1 · 15/12/2016 14:48

Some parents have a weird obsession with the cutting of hair so have some sympathy with the school. Agree with you though - couldnt give two hoots personally. I left my 8 year old at the hairdressers recently and popped to the breadshop next door. By the time I got back DD had totally changed my"just a trim" instructions and the hairdresser had done as she asked

m0therofdragons · 15/12/2016 14:51

Dd did this in year one. The teacher called me in after school and was very serious about it. I put it down to dd usually being really good. It never once occurred to me to blame the teachers or ask them to ban scissors

carabos · 15/12/2016 14:51

I got called by school and summoned to an immediate meeting because DS1 "stabbed" another boy. Rushed up there in a cold sweat to find that he had poked him in the backside with a pencil. Now, obviously that's not ideal and could have caused an injury, but to describe it as a stabbing was OTT.

JellyBelli · 15/12/2016 14:51

I persuaded my bestie to cut my hair and they sent it home in a paper bag

IJustWantABrew · 15/12/2016 14:54

Wait till he gets home and you realise he's chopped of half his hair
It was probably only to give you a heads up incase they didn't catch you at the end of the day so your not going to the paper with your best compo face saying it's 'disgraceful' and 'shocking' that he chopped his hair of.

Flip

1 2 3 4