Wow, DD called her teacher a jerk.

[Mermaid02]

My 3rd grade teacher was Mrs. Clisham- also evil. I'll never forget the day she grabbed David W. by the hair and shook him......... I was "sick" for a good part of 3rd grade....

 

[NMAmy]

Wow the death penalty for name calling.

Well, it would nip those pesky behavior problems in the bud, wouldn't it?

Listening to your children is one thing, but thinking your kids would never lie to you is absurd.

Agreed. When dd would start spinning some outlandish tale, I'd ask her, "If I was speaking to your teacher right now, what would she tell me?" Then she'd begin to backtrack, "Well, maybe I did exaggerate about such and such."

OP--it sounds like you're doing a great job as a parent. No need to feel humiliated--a lot of times when we think we're rocking at this parenthood thing, our little darlings will do something totally out of character to make us humble again.

 

[GEM]

Thank you, OP! I work with kids of all ages...kindergarten through college. And, I can tell you for certain that, if you love your kids and want them to have a happy successful life, the best thing you can do is teach them to take responsibility for their actions. It is NEVER appropriate for a child to speak that way to a teacher. End of story. Issue over. I don't care what the circumstances are. I don't care how she felt or what was happening or why it may or may not have been justified. Never acceptable in any circumstance. Those of you who take steps to help your child learn these sorts of important lessons are doing a very loving thing as a parent.

On the other hand, the parents who assume that their little darling would never do such a thing, or make excuses for why she did, or assume that teachers have nothing better to do with their time than harass students and make up stories.....your kids are going to have some hard lessons to learn eventually....most likely in college and then in life.

As I tell my six year old all the time....Yes, I love you very much. And, because I love you very much, I take my job seriously. My job is to help you learn what is acceptable and what is not. So, yes, your actions will have consequences. Always.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

It's refreshing to see a parent who wants their child to take responsibility and pay the consequences for their actions. There are many other people who would be here complaining that the the teacher had the nerve to send the child to the principal for the same action. Good luck and keep up the good work!

 

[rgf207]

I thought someone had probably wondered this. This makes me sad for the little girl. I am thankful for my dd's that know they can come to me with anything, and I will listen. I also never doubt them-and I would never take the word of a teacher over theirs. So sad.

This is hilarious. You are in for a long road ahead if you think that the schools just make stuff up to get kids in trouble at home. Yep, and your kids would never lie to get out of trouble . This is too funny

 

[luvmy3jewels]

OP, I think you are doing a great job of ensuring that this is a learning experience for her. There are a lot worse things a kid can do, however it is important that she learns from her mistakes and atones for her misbehavior. Kids have to know that there are limits and consequences for unacceptable behavior.

As far as corporal punishment in the school goes, I remember 3rd grade as being my worst year in school. My teacher would beat children with a wooden dowel on a daily basis. If you came to class without your homework, she would line you up in front of the class and beat you (no joke!) The main focus of the year was a class play, and one time she broke the stick on me during rehearsal beause I said a line wrong. Another day, we were backstage during a presentation of the play and the girl in front of me stepped on my foot and I said "ow." The teacher came up and grabbed my arm and ground the tip of her high heel into the top of my foot. I was an extremely shy child, and her actions made me even more introverted and fearful.

I never told my parents about the beatings and shoe incident until I was in college. As a child, I was always taught the adult/teacher is always right and if you get in trouble at school it will be much worse at home. (My mother was a teacher). Using my "child" logic, I was afraid if I told my parents about what was happening, I would be in trouble because I was getting in trouble at school. As an adult, I realize her behavior was abusive and completely unacceptable and she should have never been allowed to remain in a classroom.

My oldest dd is in third grade this year, and I can now understand what a challenge/adjustment the third grade is for kids. Plus they are just beginning to show signs of physical/hormonal develoment so that adds to the fun. Good luck OP! It sounds like your dd may have just slipped up a little on this one, so hopefully she will learn her lesson and everything gets smoothed out with the teacher!

 

[CathrynRose]

My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Miller... I'll never forget her.

"Jerk" would not be the name I would have used for that female dog! That lady was mean as the devil, and I can remember her face 30 years later. I remember the one day she smiled. I am not kidding. She was the most miserable woman.

That being said, she probably would have slapped me if I called her any name.

My 3rd grade teacher was Mrs. Clisham- also evil. I'll never forget the day she grabbed David W. by the hair and shook him......... I was "sick" for a good part of 3rd grade....

I had one too. Mrs. Bratek. She was pure demon.

So mean. So mean to me, to other students. A boy named Jason had a stapler thrown at him (he ducked) - another boy (coincidentally also named Jason) had an eraser thrown at him (he didn't duck - whacked him right in the side of his head)

She was horribly mean, and cruel and seemed to almost get off on making kids cry.

I remember checking out of the hospital when I had my oldest son and spotting her at the Candy Stripe desk. Now she was tormenting sick patients??? I couldn't even look her way. I felt like a little kid again, and this was yearrrrrrrrrs later.

There ARE *jerk* teachers out there.

 

[Kit'smommy]

Another reason to bring back capital punishment to the schools. This would have already been taken care of before your daughter got home from school. Than she should have had an extra dose from you or the father. The young kids today do not respect adults, and its the parents fault.

Unbelievable quote...I don't want any teacher laying a hand on my child.

OP - If there has been a steady inprovement in your daughter's behaviour, I would not worry about one incident like this too much. I would make my child write a letter of apology to the teacher and would take away a privelegy for a few days, but that would be the end of it.

 

[Sparx]

I had one too. Mrs. Bratek. She was pure demon.

So mean. So mean to me, to other students. A boy named Jason had a stapler thrown at him (he ducked) - another boy (coincidentally also named Jason) had an eraser thrown at him (he didn't duck - whacked him right in the side of his head)

She was horribly mean, and cruel and seemed to almost get off on making kids cry.

I remember checking out of the hospital when I had my oldest son and spotting her at the Candy Stripe desk. Now she was tormenting sick patients??? I couldn't even look her way. I felt like a little kid again, and this was yearrrrrrrrrs later.

There ARE *jerk* teachers out there.

I had a Mrs. Southard. she threw things at students, flipped desks, and sat on students as a punishment. (she probably weighed 300lbs.)

 

[joyjoy]

She shook her head, looked at me strangely and said "It feels like I have a rock in my ear." I asked her why it would feel that way and she said "Because I HAVE a rock in my ear."

That's freaking hilarious. Is this the same kid that called the teacher a jerk? Because I'm really starting to like her.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

When dd would start spinning some outlandish tale, I'd ask her, "If I was speaking to your teacher right now, what would she tell me?" Then she'd begin to backtrack, "Well, maybe I did exaggerate about such and such."

That brought back memories..."I'm going to call your teacher and talk to her/him...is she/he going to tell me the same thing?"

My scary horrible teacher was Mrs S in 1st grade. She didn't even have a college degree (this was a Catholic school) and not so sure she had a HS diploma. My mother told me that she and her children had watched from the beach as her husband drowned. Tragic, no doubt. But then she needed to support her children, so the church gave her a job...teaching. She said "dis" and "dat", and her big threat was "the spanking machine". I remember "Martin" being hauled off to the spanking machine, and then Mrs S and a nun standing in front of the class with him afterwards, with him sobbing that he'd never do it (whatever horrible act he had committed...talking in class??) again. I remember being sick to my stomach about going to school for a very long time. Ugh...even thinking about it. I always wanted to track that kid (adult man) down and find out exactly what happened.

 

[AwaitingMagic]

Third grade was the roughest year for my DD. She is a bright, well-behaved child too and in third grade it was an entirely different beast that came out of her. Some of her behavior was quite shocking (she made an inappropriate comment too) - just know that 4th grade rolled around and she was back to herself. I hope the same happens in your case. For the comment, she only got in trouble the one day at school - but she was in trouble much longer at home. I made her go in person and apologize to the aide's face - I thought writing a letter was more of a cop out for her (not having to be face to face). She was also grounded from EVERYTHING at home for a week. We didn't have the problem again. It'll get better -

 

[turkeymama]

That's freaking hilarious. Is this the same kid that called the teacher a jerk? Because I'm really starting to like her.

Yep, same kid. Sometimes I swear we could have our own sitcom, but I'm sure all families are like that.

She did apologize to the teacher this morning. Teacher says DD is normally a very sweet girl and behaves well in class. She agreed that DD had a momentary lapse in judgement.

Dis'ers are great. Ya'll really talked me down off the ledge. Thanks again.