Unbelievable Stories from Teachers, Babysitters, Camp Counselors, and More
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In the world of caregiving, be it as teachers, babysitters, or camp counselors, we often encounter a range of requests from parents regarding their beloved children. From humorous to baffling, those in these roles often encounter unique situations. So, let’s dive into the anecdotes and experiences shared by teachers, babysitters, camp counselors, and more as they reveal some of the most unreasonable things parents have asked them to do for their precious little ones.
Take Care of My Children
To start, one comment was, “High school teacher. I had a parent ask if she could write in her will that, if she died, I would take custody of her kids.”
Unreasonable Parent Requests
One person shared, “Call them when their child has homework. Not just in my class but in general. Like, if he has math homework, I, the English teacher, need to call mom.”
Another person added, “Hold an assembly because their son’s calculator had been stolen, and Dad was convinced he could pick the culprit out of the crowd. No assembly held, calculator found in the bottom of the locker, under some papers.”
Confusing Parent Request
A user said, “If he misbehaves, don’t hit him. Hit the kid next to him; that’ll scare him into behaving.”
Art Goals Gone Wrong
One person shared, “I had one dad who made us force his kid to do any activity that wasn’t arts & crafts (which was the kid’s favorite, and he was talented too!). The reason? The dad is homophobic and was afraid that knitting was making his son gay.”
Changing The Rules
One story was, “Former middle school lacrosse referee. So many parents wanted to amend the rule book if I dropped a flag on one of their angels.”
Another story was, “It’s the best when the player so obviously commits a foul, most commonly cross checks and slashes. S****ks your kid can’t follow some simple rules, but your yelling at me isn’t going to change the outcome. Plus, those kids had to be embarrassed.”
Religious Beliefs and Difficulties
Someone replied, “This one kid told me he didn’t have to listen to me because I am a girl, so I told him to sit in the corner for 5 minutes and reflect on what he had said. When his parents came to pick him up, they asked that I don’t discipline their child as it is against their religion to take orders from women. Uh… pardon?”
Water Worries At Camp
One person shared, “I am a camp counselor at an overnight camp. One kid’s mom called to tell us that her kid cannot drink water or take a shower because he was going to have a mental breakdown from the “minerals” in the “contaminated water.” She said he could only be exposed to “pure water,” whatever that means. Long story short, she tried to sue us for unsanitary water conditions.”
Out Of The Box Requests
A user replied, “A parent told me I needed to hold their six-year-old’s hand when we were outside because he believed he would blow away if it was windy. I did not hold his hand. He did not blow away.”
Another user added, “Wanted us to move her son, who had just turned 18 months, into our two-year-old room. He was not ready.”
Doggie Requests
A crazy story was, “Not really something they wanted me to do for their kids, but for their dog. The mom told me that the neighborhood HOA had a big thing about dog poop on people’s grass. Fair enough. But I guess even the smear of it on the grass after it gets picked up?? This woman literally asked me if I could put a bag on my hand and try to catch the poop as it fell out of her dog’s backside so as not to leave a smear on people’s lawns. I nodded, said, “Oh yes, of course,” and just picked up the dog poop after he did his business like a normal human because I love and respect myself. What the f****k.”
Mom’s Stage Issues
One user said, “One Mom threatened to yank her daughter out of the school if she were not given the vocal solo “O Holy Night” during the annual Christmas concert (a situation I described here some time ago).”
Working On Holiday
A user replied, “Parents of some kid I used to babysit were on a holiday in France about 100km away from where my parents and I were camping. They asked me if I could drop by and babysit their daughter while they went out for dinner.”
Discipline Challenges
One comment was, “They were on an unusual disciplinary system where you didn’t say no to the kids or tell them to not do things. Instead, you had to phrase things like, “do you think you could please do something else? That hurts your sister.” Not surprisingly, there were some behavioral issues in that home, so I didn’t babysit long.”
Unreasonable Bathroom Issues
An interesting story was, “I worked at a camp, and a parent came to me explaining how their child would need help going to the bathroom, specifically wiping, as they were not potty trained. The child was 7. He wasn’t special needs or anything like that. His mother just always did it for him. We refunded the money to the parent and explained that being potty trained was one of the conditions of the camp.”
Another story was, “Worked at a gymnastics day camp this past summer, had a parent come in and request that the tot’s director (in charge of the 5-7-year-olds) have her child poop in a bag and look through it and try to find the coin that the kid had swallowed the day before. We sent the kid home for the day.”
Abandoned Child
One person said, “Used to work at a mall. The number of people who would ask us to watch their kids while they finished shopping was astounding. The worst, though, was the woman who just left her 5-year-old daughter at the store (we had a “kids” table, and she told her to sit there and play). It was stupidly busy, so we didn’t notice at first, but when it slowed down, we realized we had an abandoned kid on our hands. The manager was on the phone with security when the mom came back, grabbed the kid, and left without a word.”
Weird Foods Choices
A user replied, “I’ve never babysat (my little brother doesn’t count), but when I was younger, my mom would babysit one of my younger cousins, and every single time her mom brought her over, she would hand over a freakin’ gallon of milk because my cousin wouldn’t drink anything but milk. And trust me, that milk would be gone by the time the mom came back. Not really THAT unreasonable, but. Huh.”
Source: Reddit
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