"She Dropped Her Child Off With Scarlet Fever": 28 Teachers Who Have Dealt With The Worst, Most Entitled Parents
Being a teacher is a haaaard job. Having the patience to wrangle a classroom full of kiddos all day AND their overprotective parents certainly isn't for the faint of heart. And while you might think working with the students is the hardest part of the job, many teachers will actually tell you that dealing with parents is 10 times worse, easy.
ABC
I asked teachers of the BuzzFeed Community to share their worst experiences with entitled parents. I got hundreds of responses and...y'all...for the love of god, please give these people a raise. Here are 28 of the absolute worst Karens to have ever Karen-ed in a classroom:
1."Elementary art teacher here. I had a mom of a kindergartner write a curt email about how her daughter got paint on her shirt and that she’d send it back with the child the next day for me to clean. As I was cleaning it I realized she also dumped ketchup on it the same day. I cleaned that out while I was at it."
2."When I was a preschool teacher, a little girl (3 years old) showed up to daycare with a pink Kate Spade purse. We put it in her cubby when she arrived because we didn't think it wise to have her dragging it around the classroom and playground all day. Well, the next morning the child's mother came in fuming and accusing us of STEALING the purse as 'it never came home.' We spent hours looking for it, going through other cubbies and every inch of the childcare center, and it didn't turn up. The mother called the police right there in front of us and demanded we let her search the staff room and each of our vehicles, even though the police told her there was nothing they could do."
"She left and took her daughter with her. The following morning, the little girl's dad dropped her off, and we asked if there was any luck with finding the purse. He simply responded, 'Oh yeah, it was in my car under the seat.' And that was it, not a single apology for accusing us of stealing and treating us like criminals the day before. They never brought it up again after that."
Paramount Pictures
^This kid's mom before class, probably.
3."I suspended a fifth-grade student for stealing his teacher’s iPhone. The child’s father surprisingly admitted to knowing that the theft had taken place, but his response was, 'Well, it was the teacher’s fault for leaving her phone out!' He refused to have the child return the phone so I had to involve the police."
—Anonymous
4."I had a parent call me at 6:30 in the evening asking why I hadn’t been able to heat up her child’s chicken pot pie in the teacher's lounge microwave during lunch. When I informed her that it was both my lunch time and not a service we offered at the school, she responded by asking how her child was supposed to have a hot meal. I suggested she get in line with the other half of the class each day that got a (free for ALL students and rather tasty) HOT lunch from the cafeteria. Funny thing, now she does!"
—Anonymous
5."I once had a parent demand that I be the one to ground their kid for them, because their kid had broken curfew over the weekend. Their rationale? The kid wouldn’t be happy about being grounded, and it would lead to them screaming and fighting with the parents, and they didn't think it was fair for them to have to deal with that in their home after also having to work that day."
—Anonymous
6."I teach Pre-K. My first year, I had a child who often had seizures. Obviously, whenever this happened I would rush to that child and follow proper protocol. However, another student saw the extra attention the other student received when having a seizure and decided to start pretending to have some of her own. When I told her father, he suggested that next time her classmate was having an ACTUAL seizure, I ignore it. That way his child would see she won’t get extra attention for having one."
"I was shocked and simply replied that I would not, in fact, be ignoring the child who is seizing. He didn’t seem to understand my shock or confusion."
—Anonymous
7."The mother of one of my kids was upset that she had leave the gym she was working out at to come to school to pick up her 2-year-old daughter, who had been stung multiple times by wasps."
—Anonymous
8."During the lockdown part of the pandemic, I had a parent message me to tell me that she and her husband had been looking at the statistics and didn’t think the virus was as serious as 'they' were making it out to be. She then proceeded to tell me that I should travel to her house each day to teach her child in person, because she wasn’t getting as much from what we were doing online as she would be in the classroom. My husband works nights, and I have three young children of my own. She offered to watch them while I was there."
"She wanted me to leave my house with my own three children at the height of a pandemic during a state-mandated lockdown and travel 30 minutes each way to teach only one of my students for just two hours every day. I declined with a very professionally worded message that I ran by our head of school before sending.
The parent tried to strong arm me into doing it by contacting the head of school and complaining, without realizing that they already knew what happened and supported my response. This wasn't my first rodeo — I know not to make any choices or communicate with parents without discussing it with administration and/or our board of directors first. Parent entitlement is the most exhausting part of my job."
—Anonymous
9."The sixth-grade class at the school my kids go to just went to science camp. One of the moms went knowing she had COVID but 'didn't want her daughter to miss the experience.' They had to cut the trip short because eight kids tested positive."
10."I worked at a charter high school in Washington, DC. The school encouraged relationships over grades, as they felt that good relationships would automatically translate to good grades. Unfortunately, that often meant blurred boundaries. One of my students — a linebacker on the football team — always attempted to hug me, and I would politely decline. Finally, he forced a hug on me, and I pushed him away. I told him sternly that he was to never touch me again. His mother — also a teacher at the school — requested a meeting with the principal. She complained that I wouldn’t hug her son!"
"As soon as the words left her mouth, I let her know the principal had no authority over my body. He, of course, backed me up. Needless to say, it remained awkward to work with mom and son."
—Anonymous
11."When I was teaching, I had a parent scream in my face (literally) because I told her child he wasn’t allowed to throw a football at a kid’s head, especially while the kid was riding his bike, because it was dangerous."
12."I had a student's parents hire an investigator to come into my class and observe me teach their son, because the reports they were receiving from me were positive, and they refused to believe that their child could be doing so well in school."
"They explained (after several meetings) that their son's behavior at home was atrocious, so he couldn't possibly be doing well at school. The child had a wonderful year, despite the parents' attempts to sabotage his success."
—Anonymous
NBC
13."I scheduled a parent-teacher conference due to a student’s poor performance in my class. During the meeting, the father told me that who I was describing sounded nothing like his daughter and that her grade should be raised. I had decided earlier in the year that this would be my final year teaching, and at this point, it was no secret at the school. I also had nothing to lose. I told the father that while this may not sound like how his daughter presents herself at home it was very much who she was at school, and that her instructors know her well, because we see her more than he does for the majority of the week. He got real quiet and said, 'It’s your last year here. Isn’t that right? Don’t you want to be remembered in a good light? You wouldn’t want the parents to tarnish your reputation.'"
"I stood up and said, 'This meeting is over. I will not be threatened. Your daughter’s grade stands. I assume you know the way out. And feel free to drag me through the mud.'"
—Anonymous
14."One year, I had a student with a genetic disorder who apparently didn’t know he had it. The parents wanted me to help them break the news to him by assigning him his genetic disorder for a project so I could help him figure out what he had. I very quickly declined!"
—Anonymous
15."A parent sent her two kids to school — while they both were quarantined with COVID — because she didn’t want to miss her hair appointment."
—Anonymous
16."When playing Valentine's Day Bingo in class, a mom brought in extra prizes so that every time a student won a round, her daughter would also get a prize."
—Anonymous
17."I worked in a middle school. We had a parent who thought our entire classroom revolved around them and their child. They called starting at 6:30 every morning to make their demands of us for the day. One day, they were very upset that I was out sick and blamed their child’s misbehavior on my absence. They demanded that I call them the night before each time I would be out sick."
"First of all, I cannot predict the future and do not know in advance if I’ll wake up sick the next morning. Second of all, if I’m that sick that I already know the night before I’m not going into work the next day, I’m absolutely not going to be calling any parents! Multiple staff, including me, resigned after that year."
—Anonymous
18."I was responsible for setting up local screening meetings for students who were being considered for special education services. This involves many people, including the principal and specialists who typically have to juggle more than one school. One parent was seriously late for his scheduled time, so the team moved on to other appointments. When the parent finally arrived, he demanded that we hold his meeting and would not accept that we would have to reschedule. He then started yelling that he was a businessman and his time was very valuable. When I stated that we are teachers whose time is equally valuable since we still had kids to teach, the principal finally stepped in and gave in to him to keep the peace. Needless to say, every other parent was forced to wait as their appointments were pushed back, thus disrupting the rest of the school day for staff involved in the meetings."
—Anonymous
Taylor Swift
19."I once had a parent set up a meeting with me because I had too much bass in my voice and it stressed their kid out. The parent asked if I could whisper to the student instead of talking in my normal voice, because it was giving him anxiety. They also requested that I walk the student — who lived across the street and was in seventh grade — home after school."
—Anonymous
20."I had a student that never finished his tests. I finally just starting grading what he finished rather than allowing him to come in and 'finish' the next day. His mother called me after the first time I did this. She cursed me soundly and then informed me that her husband would be there the next day to 'take care of me.'"
"I walk into our conference the next day, and her Chief of Police husband was in uniform with his gun prominently displayed. He looked at me and said, 'I do not know you, but I can tell I don't like you.' He then spent an hour harassing me about his son's grade, saying he wanted it changed.
I told him that his son expected to be allowed to see the test and then come back to finish it the next day, having studied what he didn't know. I did not change the grade. He threatened me (the principal did not stop him). He even said he would bring his brother to help him."
—Anonymous
21."One year, I used Avery stickers as name tags. One parent washed the dress her first-grade daughter wore on the first day of school with the label still on it. The label ruined the dress, and the parent made me pay $20 for a replacement. I never used labels ever again."
—Anonymous
Filmrise
22."A mother once dropped her kids off at school, not telling anyone that they had scarlet fever, which is highly contagious and dangerous. After finding out from their oldest who was my student, I sent him to the nurse. They said the mom was unable to find someone to take care of her kids, because she had to work. It took hours for her to pick him up."
—Anonymous
23."I once had a parent send their fourth-grade son's little brother — who was like 5 — to school with him. It was so weird. When I attempted to call the parents, they basically just told me to deal with it and hung up. Hours later, the kid said he was hungry, so I bought him some food when his brother went to lunch. Then they just took the bus home."
—Anonymous
24."I provided a snack for my kids during finals, thinking it might be a nice gesture. One kid totally bombed it. His mom brought me straight to the principal and complained that her son failed because 'my snack provided an informal atmosphere, and therefore he felt the final wasn’t important.' This was at a private school, so my principal just privately told me to just change the grade to keep them happy. I left that year."
—Anonymous
NBC
25."I had a parent call the superintendent saying I was bullying her child and I never said anything positive about him after I sent her an email letting her know her son was missing several assignments, but had before the end of the nine weeks to turn them in. I then had to sit down in a meeting with my superintendent and principal and show them every positive note I had sent home to that family that the parents had signed and returned to me. This is why I always tell new teachers to keep a copy of any parent communication!"
—Anonymous
26."Two 10th-grade boys cheated on an assignment, and one of their mothers emailed me saying that I couldn't say 'he cheated' and couldn't make him redo the assignment (as per the school handbook) because it was 'detrimental to his mental health.' She also went in to complain about me to administrators. When she didn't get her way and her kid still had to redo the assignment, she spread rumors about me getting knocked up and getting fired all around the school. I had her younger daughter in my sixth-grade class, and a few days later, she came to me crying and wanting comfort because other kids were bullying her and hating on her mom for trying to get me fired. Parent of the year, man."
—Anonymous
27."We had a parent actually message us on social media asking who she could talk to about the school calendar. It didn't align with her other child's calendar (private school), and she was irritated that she had to get up in the morning to only take one child to school. She was serious."
—Anonymous
ABC
28."I taught dance and had a dance team. I gave laps to two students who were cussing during practice. The students continued to cuss — now at me — but ran the laps and called their mothers from their cellphones after. One mother decided to call me from her job repeatedly, and left multiple messages on my home phone's answering machine threatening to hurt me, my husband, his immigration status, and my dogs. All over some laps. I called the principal, and he suggested that I should file a police report, which I did."
"The next morning, she got to the school extremely early and had convinced the principal and assistant principal that I had overreacted about both her behavior and her daughter’s. They took me into the conference room to talk, and I pulled out the tape recorder I had purchased to record the messages on, placed it on the table, and pressed play. They both had open jaws and red faces from the language and threats. The police also spoke to her employer about the use of a work phone for harassment, and she was written up with threat of termination for any further contact with me. Needless to say, neither girl made the team the next year, and I was never questioned again."
—Anonymous
Now it's your turn! Teachers of BuzzFeed — do you have an entitled parent horror story like these? If so, tell us about it in the comments below or via this 100% anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
