A mum has come under fire as she shared her complaint about her child’s teacher online – but the tables turned when people agreed with the teacher and said the mum was the problem
Parents always want the best for their kids at school, especially if they are struggling – but what happens when you’re told by their teacher you are the problem?
This was the case for one mum, who had voiced her concerns to her child’s teacher about his ability to concentrate, and was stunned when the teacher abruptly told her she wasn’t the issue, the mum was.
She claimed her son has ADHD and anxiety which means he needs constant “stimuli” and that his lack of interest in education was due to his teacher. But the teacher wasn’t going to take the blame and responded with a “rude” email when asked about her teaching style.
The mum took to Reddit to share the situation. She complained about her son’s teacher – but had the tables turned when users pointed out that the fault actually resided with her. The unnamed mum shared a post on the Am I The A**hole forum explaining that her son is struggling at school and she often catches him playing video games instead of doing his work online.
The parent blames the teacher for her child’s lack of interest in his education as she believes she’s “not engaging enough”. She says she’s written several emails to the teacher about this and recently received a reply she thought was “rude”, so she reported the educator to the school.
She wrote: “The teacher, in my opinion, is not old enough to be trusted with the responsibility of teaching. She looks like she’s in her 20s. I have reached out to her multiple times and she’s only told me to check in on him, keep him on track, etc. but I do all of that and he still seems to be failing.
“She asked if I would like to take time out of my schedule to come up with a plan, to which I responded she should be doing her job and coming up with a plan on her own. I am quite out of patience with this teacher. Last night I sent yet another email to her drawing attention to the issue. This morning, I had a very rude response from her.”
The mum then shared a copy of the teacher’s email which read: “I am tired of receiving emails from you regarding this. I have tried telling you this politely but the message hasn’t seemed to get to you: this is your issue. I cannot do anything when he mutes his microphone, and he is failing because he does not pay attention in class and turns in less than half of his work, most of which is incomplete anyway.
“I have reached out to you with solutions, and you have refused to cooperate. You need to take control in your own home and put a stop to this behaviour because I can only do so much.”
Offended, the parent claimed the teacher was “judging her ability as a parent” and that she was “at the end of her rope” with her.
“I wrote an email to the principal explaining what had happened. He responded and said he’d look into the matter,” she added. More than 6,000 people up voted the Reddit post, with more than 2,000 people commenting on it sharing their thoughts, with most taking the teacher’s side.
One person said: “Parents need to parent their kids?! Whatever next!? The teacher is not present – you are. Parent. Your. Child.”
Another posted: “It is your responsibility to make sure your son isn’t playing games during school, is participating in class, and is doing his work. How in the world do you expect his teacher to make sure he’s doing all of this when she’s not in your home?
“You are putting all of the responsibility on her and pointing the finger at her for him failing instead of pointing the finger at yourself. He’s failing because you are allowing him to do whatever he wants. Having a special needs child isn’t easy, but it’s your job as his Mom to make sure he’s doing his schoolwork.”
A third wrote: “As a teacher in her 20s, parents like this infuriate me! When I have anywhere from 10-30 kids online in my class, there is only so much I can do…”
A version of this story was originally published in December 2020.
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