People are sharing the most extreme examples of parenting they’ve ever seen. The stories that made you say “WTF?” should be voted on.
1. From Redditor u/Nosynonymforsynonym:
There was a science museum that had hands-on exhibits. The goal of the game was for the child to solve a problem on their own. They make something, test it, and figure out how to make it better.
A woman drags her 5-year-old son. She poked me on the shoulder while I was talking to another family.
“Tell my son what to do,” she says, standing over him. As I explain the challenge to the newcomer, I tell the family to hold on. I was used to working with rude parents so I wasn’t surprised. I told the kid that he had a wide range of materials.
But no. The woman wants me to tell her everything. “Tell him the answer! Tell him the answer!” she says repeatedly, grabbing his hands to make him fold paper, or reaching for my own.
I start getting angry. “Ma’am, the goal here is to learn the scientific method. Make a hypothesis, test it, make conclusions, and try again.”
“But you already KNOW the answer,” she says, “Tell my son! Or I’m calling your manager!”
I don’t have a boss. The poor kid is embarrassed. His mom tells him to wait for me to tell him what to do when he tries to start something for himself. The woman was afraid of him falling so she wanted to learn from his mistakes. I’m worried about how he will deal with her mistakes.
2. From Redditor u/darkerthanmysoul:
I had a mother accuse me of racism because I didn’t hire her daughter. So I and two other people in the practice are white English, Indian, Greek, Nigerian, Chinese, and Pakistani.
I asked her why she thought I was racist and she said that her daughter looked more Indian than the other staff. Her daughter didn’t get the job because of the following reasons:
- She didn’t put her phone away in case her mother called.
- Every of her mother’s calls was answered by her.
- She asked if she could keep her mother on the phone to listen to the interview in case she needed help.
If she needed her mother’s help at the interview, how could she run a practice?
3. From Redditor u/arthomas0205:
When I was a kid, my sister would go over to her house to hang out with her friend. The friend lived in a nice neighborhood.
After a day of hanging out with her friend at her house, my sister told me that her friend’s parents had placed cameras in her room. The camera had a microphone that could be used to speak to the child as well as hear what was happening in her room.
My sister told stories about the time the mom called into the room and told them to be a little quieter. The woman was watching their every move and listening to their conversations.
I feel bad for the girl. That is a huge invasion of privacy, as well as it is very weird.
4. From Redditor u/yourspoopy:
I work at an admissions front desk for a university, so I get helicopter parents all the time over the phone, but I had a mom that had me laughing over the phone because of how ridiculous she was.
Let’s call her Susan.
She asked about general admissions processes and requirements.
However, where she messed up was when she admitted [that] she did the application for him because, “He is a boy, and you know how boys can be, so I just did it for him.”
She flew off the walls. She asked if the campus was open because she wanted to visit her son every single day since they live 15 minutes away from the main campus. Susan tried to make herself sound crazy by bringing him baked goods and home-cooked meals, but I know she just wanted to pester her child.
She wanted to get access to his student account to see his grades. I told her that she wouldn’t be allowed to get that access because her child will be considered an adult and that the student had to give her permission by filing a FERPA form. She wanted to know how to get those documents.
Susan asked if there were parties on campus. There are going to be parties at the college. She asked if they were supervised. By PARENTS!
Why did she think that this was a high school setting? Susan then followed up with, “Well, how will I know where he is going or if he gets in trouble?” and I said, very casually, “Ma’am, if your student decides to do something illegal and gets caught by campus police and gets arrested, you’ll be getting that phone call.”
She had nothing to say.
5. From Redditor u/xBlackBartx:
I worked at a bagel store. I had an interview with a child.
His dad answered all the questions I asked the kid.
At the end of the interview, I turned to the dad and said, “You’re hired.” The kid laughed hard.
6. From Redditor u/bicyclemom:
When my friend decided to get an apartment for herself, her parents yelled at her. She was 30 years old at the time.
7. From Redditor u/ZacheyBYT:
A guy at my high school was kicked out of his own account and had his password changed after his parents read his college application essays.
8. From Redditor u/voice_of_craisin:
A mother called me to find out why her son didn’t get the job. He’s 40. And an attorney.
9. From Redditor u/hansn:
I teach both high school and college. In one teacher-parent meeting for a high school student, the mother mentioned that her other kid was going to a local university and that she was also going to the same classes to make sure her daughter did her work.
