A Dad Yelled At His Daughter's Teacher & Made Her Cry For Forcing His Little Girl To Talk During Class
No one handled the situation well here.
LightField Studios / Shutterstock It’s natural for parents to be protective of their children. Usually, this protective nature comes through in understandable, mild ways. But, at times, it can go too far.
A father brought his daughter’s teacher to tears after she made her talk in class.
A concerned dad posted on Reddit after an interesting run-in with his 16-year-old daughter’s teacher to find out if he was in the wrong.
“I came home early today and saw my daughter upset and sobbing quietly on the couch,” he stated in the since-deleted post.
“I went to her and asked 'what’s wrong?' and she wrote on a note that her teacher made her talk. (She has autism and doesn’t communicate with people outside of my family or people she knows.)”
That set the dad off. He decided to confront his daughter’s teacher.
“I got angry after reading that and went to the school to talk with the teacher,” he said. “I found the teacher in front of the school and went to her. I asked why she forced my daughter to talk, knowing my daughter has autism, and she said, ‘She is not autistic. My five-year-old son is autistic, and I know how autistic people look.’”
This father was outraged that his daughter’s teacher would make such a claim. “The moment she said that I yelled at her,” he recounted. “After I yelled, she started crying and ran off to her car. I just went to my car and went home.”
After his outburst, the dad tried to comfort his daughter as much as he could. “Now I’m cuddling my daughter in the living room, trying to calm her down because the teacher called her while I was going home and yelled at her even more,” he said.
Yes, while the dad was on his way home, the teacher called and harassed his daughter further.
“The teacher had told [her] the principal wants to talk about everything in two weeks,” he said. “At the time of the meeting, my daughter would be at summer break.”
While this man might not have handled the situation as tactfully as he could have, the teacher certainly didn’t either.
Dealing with “out of control” parents is something that happens often for teachers, unfortunately, according to the United Educators Association of Texas.
While teachers shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of behavior, and this father did get out of hand, the teacher didn’t handle the situation well either.
“The most important thing you can do when dealing with an angry parent is to stay cool when things get hot,” the Association said. “When talking to parents, stay calm, speak slowly, and do not become defensive or angry.”
The father should have taken some time to calm down before confronting his daughter’s teacher, but the teacher also should have taken some time to cool off before speaking with the daughter again.
Reddit commenters overwhelmingly took the father’s side.
This man’s fellow Redditors took his side on the issue and thought his reaction was warranted.
“The teacher had no business to call your daughter at home to yell at her even more,” one person said. “That needs to be brought up to the principal. And go see that principal at your earliest convenience.”
“The teacher’s inexpert guess based on one family member does not overrule your daughter’s actual medical diagnosis and likely years of appropriate treatment,” another said. “Getting yelled at by you is the absolute least this teacher deserves. Good on you for standing up for your daughter.”
“Teacher behaved badly from the start but she really crossed a line calling your child at home,” a third added.
Perhaps no one really acted appropriately in this case. While this dad is certainly not wrong to stand up for his daughter, yelling at a teacher may not have been the best way to do so.
When emotions run hot, sometimes the best solution is to wait and let calmer heads prevail.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.