A child in the United States will spend between 12-15 years in school before graduating from high school. As such, most parents will spend the same amount of time dealing with the school system.
Sometimes the interaction is a productive partnership that puts the development of the child first while respecting the needs of others.
Other times...
Reddit user unnybunny1234 asked:
"As a parent, what did your child's school do that made you say 'you can't be serious…'?"
World's Slowest Game Of Tag
"They banned running on the playground during recess."
~ GlitteryMoonbeamWhb
"My 10-year-old always complains because apparently everything is banned at recess. So bizarre."
~ ImaginaryBag1452
"Probably because of this incident and that incident that a lot of rules got made to prevent such incidencies from happening ever again."
~ Zkang123
Careless Wording
"Kids aged 8 and 10 came home with a note, freaking out that the school was going to force them to allow doctors to look at their privates. Everyone in class was stressed over this."
"Upon reading the note I had to sign, it said curvature of the spine exam."
"And boys and girls will be screened in 'private areas'."
~ Adorable-Writing3617
"They did this to us but we weren’t required to remove our tops. That was a problem."
"I passed my exam fine, and later got diagnosed with scoliosis. It’s blatantly obvious if you just look at my back."
"The same thing happened with their vision tests. I always passed, but had terrible vision."
"Maybe untrained people shouldn’t be allowed to perform medical testing."
~ Kellbows
How NOT To Celebrate Diversity
"Gave my brother an award for having a Black parent."
~ SomeGuyNamedJ13
"My friend's daughter got an award at school because she's Indigenous. No other reason."
"She's 5, and even she thought it was strange."
"In her words, she got an award 'because she exists'."
~ juniper_max
"Indigenous child '...got an award "because she exists".'"
"Despite their best efforts."
~ Scholarly_Koala
School Yard Or Prison Yard?
"My school wouldn’t let us play or hang out in groups of more than 3 kids during recess."
~ happymonty
Snitches Get... Casts
"My grade school principal tried to convince me not to call my mother when I'd broken my arm on the monkey bars."
"Mom was... upset about that."
"Quote from my mom to my principal: 'It infuriates me that you breathe the same air as I do'."
~ A$hole_Poet
"I'm trying to figure out what he was trying to achieve by doing this."
"Like the broken arm will have healed by the time you get home‽‽"
~ BrieflyVerbose
Mistaken Identity
"My kid went on an overnight school trip. I got multiple messages and emails from the principal saying he had snuck out in the middle of the night and jumped off a dock into the lake."
"When he got home, we asked him about it. He started laughing. He thought we were messing with him because he had no idea what we were talking about."
"My kid can be a turd, so I emailed the principal and a couple of teacher chaperones to get more information. The teachers told me they had no idea what I was talking about, it was the first they were hearing about any incident at camp, etc…"
"Principal went silent. Dodged my emails and calls. A week later, she apologized to my son by saying, 'sorry, I must have mistaken some wildlife for you. Tell your mom you’re all good'."
"Never heard from her directly, and a year later, he’s still going on field trips, and there was no follow-up."
"Such an unnecessary heavy accusation. Never really regained confidence in the school leadership."
~ Odd-Warning-
"Does your son look anything like a turtle or maybe a duck?"
~ secretrebel
Once In A Lifetime Experience
"There was set to be a really good solar eclipse in 2015 and despite the children all having safety viewing glasses, the school intended to keep the children in the hall to watch on TV instead."
"The eclipse was expected at 9:30am, so I asked could I take him to watch the eclipse and return him to school immediately after and they said no, it would be recorded as an unauthorised absence if I did."
"So, I did anyway. It was a once in a childhood educational opportunity that the school planned for them to miss."
"I took him to a nearby beach, where we were plunged into darkness. It was awesome."
"I took him to school straight afterwards and have not an ounce of regret. We've not had an eclipse like it since."
"It's not an experience to be missed at any age. We so rarely get good visibility here due to cloud cover, so when that one in 2015 was anticipated to be perfect, there was no way we were missing it."
"I engaged with the school in advance, but when they wouldn't bend despite his steady 100% attendance I just thought 'to hell with them'."
"10 years on, I don't think a missed hour cross-legged on the sports hall floor watching the news has done him any harm."
~ Limpy-Seagull
"I took a day off work for both the 2017 and 2024 solar eclipses. If I had a child, I would have kept them home from school that day too. It's such an amazing experience."
"The 2024 eclipse passed right over my backyard, and the local school districts (and a lot of local businesses) actually closed due to traffic concerns."
~ GeekyKirby
Rebel, Rebel
"During the protests in Hong Kong, kindergarten told us not to allow our kid to wear a face mask or risk being detained by police or mistaken for a 'rioter'."
"Kid was 6 at the time. Very dangerous age."
~ lechef
"What if they throw a juice box at someone?"
~ CouchStrawberry
"A Molotov juice box."
~ SocksOnHands
Oxygen? Who needs oxygen?
"School wouldn’t let my son carry his own ventolin inhaler for asthma; instead he needed to go to the administration office and ask for it. He was pretty good at knowing when he needed it."
"Head office lady called and said his frequency of visits was increasing, that perhaps he was forming a habit and 'should she still give it to him?'."
"Stunned silence… 'He needs it to breathe…so YES, please still give it to him!'."
~ PreviousSpread5142
"Twenty-five years ago we were having difficulty making a school officiant understand that the adrenaline (epipen) a child needed to treat a severe peanut allergy, could not, in fact, be held under lock and key in the office."
"'BUT IT'S A NEEDLE'."
"'BUT HE'LL DIE'."
"'BUT IT'S A NEEDLE'."
"Good to know we're making progress."
~ ShakeUpWeeple1800
Faster Than The Speed Of Light
"Argued with me about sun safety."
"More specifically, my son wanted to wear long pants when he was supposed to wear shorts."
"I let him wear them. They were the same as the school uniform shorts required, just long."
"The vice principal called me to take me to task and told me that he couldn’t possibly get sun damage on his legs because the kids don’t stop moving."
"I told her to cut it out, and that she knew that was bullsh*t."
"I live in Australia."
~ InadmissibleHug
"In Australia ffs‽‽ We are the cancer capital of the world."
"That principal needs their head read."
~ Opticm
Teaching The Wrong Lesson
"My younger sisters’ elementary school banned the Nike 'Just Do It' shirts because they were 'suggestive'."
"Suggestive about what and to whom?"
~ colinthehuman94
"That's stupid, it's a t-shirt. How is it related in any way to sex? 'Oh yeah, but it says just do it'. That's just their dirty** mind-talking.
"ALSO, it's an elementary school. Isn't that what Americans call primary school? How are they supposed to know what 'just do it' is suggestive of?
"All they're doing is encouraging the children to be dirty-minded at such a young age."
~ karootheduck_
Supporting Bullies
"My kids' elementary school issued a policy that the kid who, in an argument, delivered the last hit/blow would be punished. However, they did absolutely nothing about bullying, so often the kid 'hitting' was a kid hitting back or defending themselves."
"So If someone punched my kid and my kid hit back, my kid would be punished."
"Once a little girl in first grade was attacked by a much older boy. She was very much into martial arts and dislocated his shoulder in the fight."
"They called in her parents and wanted to start some disciplinary action against the girl. The mother very clearly told them to cut the crap, and if they failed to protect her daughter, she would make sure the girl could defend herself."
~ Current-Pipe-9748
BFF
"That children weren't allowed to have a best friend."
"If two kids got along too well, the teachers would intentionally separate them by switching desks, put them in different groups, not let them be partners on projects, etc..."
"They would even mess with their recess and let one kid out on time and the second a minute or so late, hoping the first would start playing with other kids before the best friend came out."
~ StylingMofo
"Because artificial social sabotage of developing children is an important part of growing up."
~ JackCooper_7274
"Our school is doing that. 'They need to expand their social circles'."
"Guess who has no friends now because that only worked for one of the kids?"
~ Tyelde
"My kid's school did this. Between that and lockdown, guess who now has crippling social anxiety."
"I'm not sure what the f*ck else they expected to happen."
~ Aster_Jax
Hair Police
"During the summer holidays one year, we dyed the last 6 inches of my daughter's long hair reddish purple. It had faded a fair bit by the time school started again, but we still braided it and put it up in a neat bun so no colour could be seen."
"One day it started to fall down after a PE lesson, so instead of simply helping her tuck it back up the teacher CALLED ME to tell me off for allowing her to have coloured hair."
"I was incredulous and let the teacher know exactly what I thought of her decision to drag a 10-second tidy-up job into a disciplinary issue involving a phone call. That bloody woman was a pill."
~ alancake
"These rules are so awful because it also dictates how kids can look after school. Seriously, it’s as if the school thinks they own the kids 24/7."
~ WebBorn2622
Poo Happens
"In preschool, my kid had a toilet accident and managed to convince the teachers I wanted the poo.
"'He said you'd want it!'."
"'AND YOU BELIEVED HIM‽‽'."
~ B*tchinB*tchT*ts
"As in he convinced them to keep it until the end of the day to give to you?"
~ Baked_Potato_732
"Verily."
~ B*tchinB*tchT*ts
Has a school decision ever made you question their sanity—or your own?
What happened?
