Teachers Dish on the Worst Parenting They’ve Ever Seen

Being a teacher isn’t an easy job. Most teachers end up wearing a lot of hats and end up being an influential part of their student’s lives. While many challenges come with this career choice, one of the biggest struggles of being a teacher is dealing with parents. This is especially true during a time when teachers get blamed for everything from a child’s grades to their behavior in class. Teachers who have been around for some time have seen some pretty bad parenting moments. On a Reddit thread in the r/Teachers subreddit, teachers dish on the worst parenting they’ve ever seen.

While some interactions between parents and teachers may be almost laughable, there are many downright horrifying interactions. When students confide in their teachers and talk about some of the things their parents do, it can greatly impact the mental and emotional state of teachers as well. Here are some stories from teachers about some of the worst parenting they’ve seen in their careers.

Most parents believe their child is special, but believing your child is a prophet is a different level of intensity. Reddit user u/dr239 said they had a middle school student who couldn’t read or even write his own name. In a conference with the parent, they found out that the parent thought he didn’t need to learn math or any other subject because he was a prophet. The parent’s response during conferences was “Oh he doesn’t need math. He’s a prophet.”

It’s natural for parents to be frustrated or even complain about their kids every once in a while. However, complaining in front of them and expressing regret about having them isn’t something any child should have to go through. One parent, as u/Numb1Slacker expressed, started complaining about her child right in front of them in a parent-teacher conference. This parent said she was tired of her child and started to complain about how she wasted the best years of her life on him.

Every teacher understands the stress that can come from a lockdown at school and how imperative it is for the students to stay quiet and listen to instructions. As u/algebratchr expressed in the thread, one student started texting their parent during a lockdown and the light from the phone could be seen across the room. The teacher told the student to put the phone away. Instead, the parent calls and the student starts talking to her on the phone. After the teacher took the phone from the student, the mom wrote an email to the teacher, claiming that the teacher was trying to get her daughter killed.

Many teachers in the Reddit thread expressed that they had students with undiagnosed conditions. In many cases, the parents refused to have them tested. u/One-Two3214 expressed that they had a barely verbal 8th-grade student, but the mom refused to have him evaluated. When contacted by the school, she expressed that she didn’t consent to any testing. She also refused to let him see a therapist or doctor. According to the mom, she believed he was possessed by a demon, not autistic.

Every parent who has raised a toddler will tell you that potty training is no walk in the park. However, when someone sends a child to kindergarten in diapers, it’s not just because potty training is difficult. As expressed by u/Katesouthwest, one parent who sent their kindergartener to school in diapers was under the impression that the teachers would potty train the child. Several other teachers in the thread expressed that this is more common than most people think.

Soda is already something that most people should only drink in moderation. Sending your child to school with a 2-liter bottle of soda for breakfast isn’t something you should be doing as a parent. According to u/inab1gcountry, when questioned about why the student had the soda, the student explained that their mom gave it to them because they were tired and she wanted the student to wake up. After drinking the entire bottle before lunch, the child, unsurprisingly, got sick.

It’s not uncommon for parents to take a weekend or so away from their kids every once in a while. However, one Reddit user explained that they had many wealthy parents who left their kids for weeks, or even months, at a time to go on vacation. During that time, the children were typically left with a maid. Several other teachers responded that they’ve also taught kids who were essentially raised by a nanny.

A child's homework can be frustrating for many parents. Despite this frustration, most parents don’t expect their child’s teacher to do their homework with them. As u/hoceana_ explained, they had a situation where a parent got upset that they wouldn’t do the homework with their child. After explaining that it was something for them to do independently and that they would go over it together in class, the parent became upset and started talking trash about the teacher to other parents.

Most teachers have experienced plagiarism in the classroom in one form or another. It’s not uncommon for students to plagiarize homework or essays thinking that they can get away with it. What’s more unusual, however, is parents who don’t seem to care that their child plagiarized. When u/Thewrongbakedpotato called one parent to explain that her child had plagiarized, her response was, “So why are you calling me?” She then expressed that this was between the teacher and the student and wasn’t a reason to bother her.

Having a parent who struggles with alcoholism isn’t easy for any child, no matter how old they are. What’s even more difficult is a scenario where the parent blames their problem on you. Reddit user u/Murky_Conflict3737 said they dealt with a mom who blamed her middle school child for her drinking again. According to this teacher, the kid wasn’t even that poorly behaved.

Most parents would do anything for their children, especially when their child is struggling. However, that’s not the case for every parent. According to u/Laurelmeadows, it’s common to see parents who have children who are deaf or hard of hearing with parents who refuse to learn sign language. Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident and it’s something they saw frequently at the school they taught at.

One student in u/Setsuna17’s class was frequently absent from school. While meeting with the truancy officer, the parent claimed that the student was absent because he would stay up all night playing video games. This led to him being too tired in the morning to wake up. When the school suggested she take the video games away from him, she acted like she had never thought of that suggestion before.

Unfortunately, parents doing work for their students isn’t a rare occurrence in many classrooms. One teacher, u/Famous-Preference706, expressed that they had a teenage student who had the reading comprehension of a 3rd grader. Despite this, the assignments that were done at home always had perfect scores. It became obvious to this teacher that the mom was doing her son’s homework for him.

There are many schools where students fighting on campus is a daily occurrence. What’s less common is the way this particular parent reacted to her son’s behavior. Reddit user u/Panda_BANJO expressed that one teenager was arrested for fighting on campus. However, when the mom was called, she got upset that her son was arrested. She then promptly pulled the fire alarm and ran out of the school.