We recently asked teachers of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the most absurd demands or requests a student’s parent made. Here are their most shocking stories:
1.
“I once had a parent ask me to take her daughter to the dentist!”
—edgyvampire682
2.
“I had a mom ask if I would trim her daughter’s toenails because ‘She listens so much better to you than she does to me.’”
—shinywalrus55
3.
“I had a parent tell me not to conduct fire drills or lockdown drills because they scare their son. Yes, they can be scary and loud, but wouldn’t you rather your son be prepared and know what to do if something happens?”
—shinywalrus55
4.
“A parent asked me to wipe their 5th grader’s butt after she pooped because she ‘doesn’t clean it well.’”
—shinywalrus55
5.
“Parents asked me to wipe their kids’ faces to remove snot, food, and ‘gunk’ before they come home. They’re in the 6th grade. No, ma’am.”
—shinywalrus55
6.
“A parent told me to make copies of all of their kid’s homework, quizzes, and tests to send home because she needed to make sure I knew what I was teaching.”
—shinywalrus55
7.
“A student had to get too much dental work, so their parent emailed me requesting that I teach dental hygiene lessons and get their child to brush and floss their teeth every day at lunchtime.”
—Anonymous
8.
“A parent requested that I come in an hour early to help her daughter pass a science class she regularly skipped, fell asleep in, and repeatedly got sent out of for disruption TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE END OF SCHOOL. She thought I would raise her grade so she could graduate. Absolutely not. Don’t put in the work, don’t get the diploma.”
—shinywalrus55
9.
“I’m a retired teacher of Anatomy and Physiology, and I had the parents of a student who wanted to be a doctor tell me their child had anxiety, so therefore, they should not be given homework, AND the student did not do homework at home either because they needed to relax.”
—Anonymous
10.
“I had a sixth-grade student who continually talked about all kinds of random things all period long. I had tried many different ways to get this to stop. Finally, I asked the parents to assist me with ways to help the child not disrupt the class. The mom said if I let him talk in front of the class for five minutes every day at the beginning, he wouldn’t interrupt my teaching.”
—Anonymous
11.
“A parent of a second grader asked me if I would call her when he needed to use the bathroom during the school day so she could come up to school and take a sample for the upcoming doctor appointment. Um, no. I was not going to stop teaching the class to call you and tell the child to ‘hold it’ until you can get here to go in the bathroom with him.”
—Anonymous
12.
“I teach pre-k and had a set of parents that made me almost quit teaching for good. They demanded daily notes about what their child ate at school, who they played with, and the daily lesson plans sent home. Every day!”
—Anonymous
13.
“I was a kindergarten teacher. I had a parent who wanted me to put names on their kid’s birthday party invitations, not invite ‘bad’ kids, track their responses, and get the final count to her a week before the party. I told her that I’m a teacher and not a party planner! Additionally, there are no ‘bad’ kids.”
—Anonymous
14.
“One year, I had a parent who wanted me to retain her son in second grade instead of promoting him to third. There was absolutely no reason to retain this bright little boy. She wanted to enroll him in a bilingual school, and his second language skills were about a year behind what they would have to be. Of course, I refused.”
—Anonymous
15.
“I am a preschool teacher, and while outlandish parent requests typically make me pause and laugh, there was one instance I still cannot get over. Last year, during open house for my class, a parent asked me about our ‘bathroom cleansing methods.’ Assuming they were asking how clean the bathrooms were throughout the school—an understandable question that multiple parents have asked since the pandemic—I answered accordingly. But no, they wanted to know what options we provided for the children to clean themselves after using the restroom. For reference, I work in a decently affluent area. The parent wanted to come in over the weekend before school started to install a BIDET for their son.”
—Anonymous
16.
“I was asked if I provide a guarantee with my tutoring that his child would improve a grade level.”
—Anonymous
17.
“I had the parent of an AP student ask me to call their home every night to personally remind the student of the homework due the next day. When I told the parent that I provided students with a monthly calendar listing all the topics, assignments, and due dates clearly, the parent replied, ‘You expect my child to read a calendar and remember to do the work without personal reminders?'”
—Anonymous
18.
And finally, “I had a student whose dad was a commercial airline pilot. On the morning of a 9/11 anniversary, the student’s parent asked me to modify my lesson and ensure I didn’t mention that the pilots of the planes had died in the crash. The parent explained that the student knew the passengers, terrorists, and people in the buildings had died, but hadn’t fully realized that the original pilots of each plane had also died. The parents didn’t want their child to be afraid every time the dad left for work, so they lied to them for years. Not only did they ask me to continue the lie, but also to misinform 23 other students about historical facts. The child was 10 years old.”
—Anonymous
If you’re a teacher, what are other ridiculous requests a student’s parent made? Let us know in the comments (or use this Google Form if you want to be anonymous).
