Mom Underestimates 24YO Teacher With No Kids, Demands That Principal Switch Her Daughter’s Class
Interview With ExpertUnarguably parents are the silent superheroes of our lives. It’s pretty understandable that they want the best for us and they would take down the whole world, if they had to, to make sure we get the finest possible things everywhere. But sometimes, they can take things too far.
The original poster (OP) had a friend who wanted to switch the classes of their kids. All because her daughter had a 24-year-old teacher who had no kids, and she felt the youngster had no business in the school!
More info: Reddit
The poster of this story had a 5-year-old daughter who started grade 1 along with her friend’s child, but in different classes
Image credits: stockking (not the actual photo)
One day, the friend asked the principal to switch her child’s class as her teacher was a 24-year-old lady with no kids, and she felt the youngster had no business in school
Image credits: anon
Image credits: Thirdman (not the actual photo)
As the principal refused, she wanted the poster to switch their kids’ classes, but as her daughter had already made friends, she didn’t want to do so
Image credits: anon
Image credits: Anastasia Shuraeva (not the actual photo)
Despite the poster’s refusal, she lied to the teachers that she had agreed, but when they called the poster, they realized the truth
Image credits: anon
The poster told them not to switch her daughter’s class but her friend kept calling and annoying her constantly over it, which she ignored
Our poster tells us that she had a 5-year-old daughter who started grade 1, along with her friend’s child in the same school but in different classes. Now, this friend was not a close one, but as their children got along, they hung out on their playdates.
Now, the drama began a few days after the kids’ school started. The friend complained to the principal that her child’s teacher was a 24-year-old woman who didn’t have children. Now, folks, make a note of how she failed to even mention whether her teaching ability was good or not.
The friend simply had a problem with the youngster because of her age and that she didn’t have her own kids. So, as per her “logic”, the young teacher shouldn’t teach her child. But the principal didn’t budge after her complaint as the class size was balanced and the only option left was to switch a kid from a different class.
So, the friend called our poster and asked whether their kids could switch classes. Now, OP was kind enough to ask her daughter about it, but she claimed she had already made friends. And after her friend stated her child deserved a good education, OP refused to switch their classes. The friend hung up, but guess what she did later?
She told the teachers that OP had agreed to the switch. So, when the poster got a call from them, of course, she was shocked! But she told them not to make the switch and ignored the calls that she was constantly getting from her friend. After she vented online about this, the Redditors were quick to call out her “friend”.
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
They were outraged that she underestimated a young woman just because of her age and didn’t even consider her teaching abilities. They felt that her logic about “the teacher not having kids so she shouldn’t teach her kid” was totally absurd and completely baseless. Rather, they felt that a young teacher could bring a fresh perspective to teaching.
As per research, less than 1 in 5 Americans would recommend teaching to young people. Even netizens felt that the woman should be grateful that this youngster opted to teach her child and chose a profession that many young people are avoiding. To get expert insight, Bored Panda reached out to Jyoti D., who has been the principal of a kindergarten for the past 17 years.
She confirmed the netizens’ doubts and stated how youngsters in the teaching profession have declined drastically in the past few years. “Teaching is a profession that’s not given as much credit as it deserves. People often undervalue this field, but due to the demanding nature of it, youngsters refrain from applying these days,” she added.
Folks also pointed out the benefits that a young teacher could provide to her students. And Mrs. Jyoti also stressed that youth is a gift in the teaching field as young teachers are quick to adapt and eager to learn. She also believes that they possess more energy and enthusiasm to carry out multiple diverse activities that are essential for students’ cognitive as well as overall development.
People online highlighted an important aspect that just because she didn’t have kids, that doesn’t mean she couldn’t be a good teacher. “Empathy, patience, adaptability, and a willingness to learn along with the kids are the most important factors to being a good teacher. Whether you have kids or not doesn’t really affect your teaching abilities,” informed Mrs. Jyoti.
She also added that nobody would hire a teacher just for the sake of it and the school board is sure to check whether the teacher is qualified enough. This just proves how wrong the poster’s supposed friend was. Netizens even said that she was not at all a good friend and it was better that OP ignored her when she lied to the school about things.
Well, now that you know the whole story, what do you make of it? Feel free to write your heart out in the comments below!
Folks online supported the poster and claimed that her friend had some serious issues to lie about things like this and underestimate a 24-year-old
Poll Question
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In 2016 the UK was choosing the next Prime Minister. One female MP (Andrea Leadsom) said she would be a better Prime Minister than Theresa May because May was childless. Leadsom was destroyed by the public for her comment and dropped out.
Load More Replies..."This 24yo made good choices, she worked hard, graduated from college, and didn't use her body as an incubator....I don't trust her!" Fùcking people are idiots!
I agree with you overall. But i have to point this out...The way you use negative wording to describe having kids. Is kinda... "and didn't use her body as an incubator" Off i dunno. You described my mother "she worked hard, graduated from college" She also had kids at the age of 24. AND continued working. It is doable! I think t is a choice based on the means you have as a person (inherent ability and society etc...) You can do all the good things in life AND have kids they are not mutually exclusive. Or you can just have kids. Or you can Just focus on carrer! I don't like this negative vibe... around having children. But the mother thinking that other being a mom is somehow going to give them magical teaching powers... yeh she is a control freak a nutcase that makes me worried for the future of her children.
Load More Replies...…only after much discussion was she lead to understand that the childless teacher wore the same black and white outfit every day because it’s a Catholic school
This has reminded me of the many child-less teachers I had. They were good, loving, kind people, with the same professionalism as their colleagues with children. Thank you all.
I don't even know which of my teachers, or my daughter's teachers had children.
Load More Replies...That mother needs psychiatric care. Imagine growing up raised by that thing.
Yes the school should send a social worker to her house to make sure she is stable enough to raise her child.
Load More Replies...Wow! That woman is definitely the AH here. A single 24 year old is capable of being a teacher. That woman is completely unhinged and I really feel sorry for her daughter.
I really love how the "bad" teacher is plenty good enough for her friend's child to the point she would lie to the school to enforce the changeover (like that was gonna work) but not her own...I mean? Just wow, what an unhinged egomaniac.
Load More Replies...Been in Education a long time now. I can attest that her age and number of children are irrelevant to her teaching ability. This really shouldn't even need to be said. You can be brilliant, atrocious, or somewhere in between regardless of your age, child status, gender, race, music taste, whether or not you like pineapple on pizza, whether you're a dog or a cat person, etc. What makes a great teacher? Many different things, but they all share two things. One, a passion for learning. Not only for the students, but that ever-present drive and curiosity to learn more themselves. To continuously grow and adapt. And two, caring for people around them, including their students; you genuinely want GOOD for them and want to help them succeed.
Okay, but pineapple on pizza might be a bridge too far. Go Hawaiian pizza!
Load More Replies...Does anyone else remember "The Waltons" or "Little House on the Prairie"? The teachers were always single, child-free women. They may have eventually married but in the beginning, they were single women. This used to be the norm, and is one reason why women dominated teaching jobs in primary schools for so long. That mom is simply delusional.
Back in her day, my grandma was like the last year who had to stop teaching because she got married. Only unmarried women were allowed to teach here, once they married they had to be at home/work on the farm.
Load More Replies...Just because you don’t have children of your own does not mean you have no clue how to deal with children—-especially if you have a degree in the subject, ffs. Considering so many of the p**s poor parenting I’ve seen from some parents, I’m thinking maybe some mandatory remedial parenting classes would do them some good. Well, at least they might, since they’d have to STFU, listen, and actually learn in order to reap those benefits. That would make some of them nothing but lost causes. Maybe the young, childless, educated, and devoted teachers can adopt the kids who got stuck with p**s poor parents.
Tell me you work with other people's children, without telling me you work with other people's children.
Load More Replies...Baffles me. I had 4 kids going through all the grades, and I never once enquired about their teachers' parental status. Shame on me! Good teachers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, (and so, alas, do bad ones) but I think it's good for the kids to encounter youth and enthusiasm, as well as (sometimes a bit jaded) experience.
It's despicable and sneaky that this woman goes behind your back to the school and lies to the principal. She tried to get your child switched to another class without your consent. If the teacher according to her isn't good enough for her kid,why should your kid have her as her teacher? I'd drop that so called " friend" for that behavior. You don't have to have children or be a certain age to be qualified to teach children. You have to work hard and get through your education and have a good relationship with kids. There were plenty of older teachers in school that sure as hell should not have been teaching when I was in school. We had an awful one who hated kids and taught absolutely nothing and spent the hour screaming at everyone and telling us how rotten we all were and how much she hated us. I eventually went to the dean's office and told him that I might as well be in detention during her hour because I wasn't going to be in her class anymore. There was another one who just read magazines and showed movies that had nothing to do with the subject he was teaching. She's so worried about whether or not the teacher is a parent or how old she is or how good of a teacher they will be, at least her kid won't be at that school . Biggest mistake my parents made was switching me from private school into public schools. Public schools just want bodies behind desks. They don't care.
Depends on the school, depends on the teachers. Sweeping statements are always inaccurate
Load More Replies...That's the whole freaking story! I was expecting there to be more than this st***d thing no one cares about.
No wonder teachers are quitting in droves! Who wants to have to deal with people like this???
In the first quarter of the 1900's, my aunt taught high school at 18. She went on to get her degrees and finally her masters. I thought she was a great teacher and I think her students thought so too.
all my worst teachers were like rly rly old, the new ones are usually pretty good
I'm more concerned that people still send their children to public school... Doesn't matter the age of the teacher or whether she has kids... Teachers don't teach anymore
When I was a kid (a long, long time ago) kindergarten and first grade teachers were usually the youngest teachers in my elementary school and were the most cheerful and energetic. Their lack of children (at that point) likely contributed positively to their abundance of cheer and energy
I've never heard of anything so absurd. Does she expect future grade school teachers to get pregnant in college as a graduation requirement, before they can get hired?
Let's look at this from a different perspective: I used to work in healthcare. I am a woman, and a lesbian. Not having the same anatomy (or preference for that anatomy) did NOT stop me from keeping my male patients clean...just saying...
If one pareñt thinks a teacher is bad then why would you want your friend 's kids to have them for one. Two, if you have doubts about a teacher then aßk the teacher what she teaches and different things like that.
So if she came from a large family, she could have 20 years of teaching and taking care of children smaller than her. Age does not equal experience.
It doesn't matter how old the teacher is. Because my daughter kindergarten teacher did not have any kids. And she was the best teacher out there and she was only 22. She's still alive. Yes, wonderful person, amazing woman Mason. I will never forget her and she just had a baby. Years after she left to school, but when she took my daughter, she didn't have no kids and she rated her like she was her own
These AITA posts are the stupidest, most obnoxious f*****g things ever. I used to enjoy that subreddit, but the last few years it's all s**t like this. Situations where people clearly know they're not TA but just want the fake internet points and clout and attention. It's disgusting and the people that continue to use it seriously absolutely baffle me.
As someone who was studying to be a teacher (swapped majors cause f*ck the edu system rn) this is disheartening that ppl believe young ppl cant have a job like that. How ELSE are we expected to get experience?!
The "friend" seems to be jealous of the teachers age and freedom while being childless and doesn't want to have to be around her minimally because of her child being in the class.
I was a high school teacher at 22. I was passionate and hard-working. My students (and by extension their parents) also never knew my age.
Please explain to me how a teacher's abilities to teach and whether or not they have children are connected? One has nothing to do with the other.
Why is being childless/childfree seen as a negative? I see it as positive: you are more objective in your assesment of children because you're emotional attachment to them is of a different kind.
I've known non-parents who were great with kids, and I've known a LOT of non-parents (especially online) who rant on and on about how horrible children and parenthood are. I would not want someone in the latter group teaching children. I had enough trouble with my 3rd grade teacher (married and a mother) who hated children.
Load More Replies...I've been a teacher since I'm 13yo (my mom had a foundation to help teaching children with difficulties) and I still don't have children today (40yo). I'm also autistic. I taught English to 2yo to 24yo, in schools and outside. I also taught French, Maths, History and Philosophy. I even taught Engligh to French deaf kids. And each time parents came to see me, it was to thank me their kid finally loved my matter. Being young makes you aware of new ways of thinking. Not having kid means you have all your time for the others'.
Sometimes it's very needed. I complained constantly about my 5th grade teacher being biased on certain students and hating the rest of us. The day I walked in after waking up in a flood with my bed floating in 8 feet of water so I sat on the roof of a floating trailer for 8 hours waiting to be rescued wearing my aunts clothing and too big shoes to the same teacher yelling at me for not having books or homework, so I told her next time I'll drown to make sure I get my back pack she slapped me with a ruler that had a metal side and it sliced from my eyebrow down my eyelid requiring an eye surgeon to repair it, and me wearing a eye patch for 6 weeks while it healed. If I'd been put in the other class as my mother requested the school would not have been out so much money and bad teacher fired half way through the year.
LOL! NTA!! I have a better idea for the "friend"... take your daughter out of the school so you can home school her instead or transfer her to another school. Fortunately, your "entitlement" card has been declined multiple times at the existing school she's in now. 😄
In the US 1st grade is 7... why is this kid in grade 1 as a 5 year old?
Kindergarten is generally 5, 1st grade 6. Because the birthdate cut off is decided at the district level in the U.S. the ages can vary slightly.
Load More Replies...First off, what is "childless"? Not having kids is the default in life, not "failure to breed". And if she doesn't want kids, she's ChildFREE, not "childless". Most people at 24 aren't married yet, let alone breeding. Her life, her choices, not that snooty nosy parker's. [ ........... ] Second, how long are graduates from college supposed to wait after getting teacher certificates before they become teachers? Ten years? A 24 year old teaching 18 year olds would be a bad idea, but teaching 5 year olds? Only an idiot would have a problem with that.
You said "A 24 year old teaching 18 year olds would be a bad idea" So by your reasoning a newly graduated teacher who has specifically aimed at teaching older students isn't allowed to do so at 24? What would you set as the minimum age? By the way, my sister started teaching high school students (ages 14-18) when she was 22, and did well at it, quickly becoming head of the English department at her school.
Load More Replies...In 2016 the UK was choosing the next Prime Minister. One female MP (Andrea Leadsom) said she would be a better Prime Minister than Theresa May because May was childless. Leadsom was destroyed by the public for her comment and dropped out.
Load More Replies..."This 24yo made good choices, she worked hard, graduated from college, and didn't use her body as an incubator....I don't trust her!" Fùcking people are idiots!
I agree with you overall. But i have to point this out...The way you use negative wording to describe having kids. Is kinda... "and didn't use her body as an incubator" Off i dunno. You described my mother "she worked hard, graduated from college" She also had kids at the age of 24. AND continued working. It is doable! I think t is a choice based on the means you have as a person (inherent ability and society etc...) You can do all the good things in life AND have kids they are not mutually exclusive. Or you can just have kids. Or you can Just focus on carrer! I don't like this negative vibe... around having children. But the mother thinking that other being a mom is somehow going to give them magical teaching powers... yeh she is a control freak a nutcase that makes me worried for the future of her children.
Load More Replies...…only after much discussion was she lead to understand that the childless teacher wore the same black and white outfit every day because it’s a Catholic school
This has reminded me of the many child-less teachers I had. They were good, loving, kind people, with the same professionalism as their colleagues with children. Thank you all.
I don't even know which of my teachers, or my daughter's teachers had children.
Load More Replies...That mother needs psychiatric care. Imagine growing up raised by that thing.
Yes the school should send a social worker to her house to make sure she is stable enough to raise her child.
Load More Replies...Wow! That woman is definitely the AH here. A single 24 year old is capable of being a teacher. That woman is completely unhinged and I really feel sorry for her daughter.
I really love how the "bad" teacher is plenty good enough for her friend's child to the point she would lie to the school to enforce the changeover (like that was gonna work) but not her own...I mean? Just wow, what an unhinged egomaniac.
Load More Replies...Been in Education a long time now. I can attest that her age and number of children are irrelevant to her teaching ability. This really shouldn't even need to be said. You can be brilliant, atrocious, or somewhere in between regardless of your age, child status, gender, race, music taste, whether or not you like pineapple on pizza, whether you're a dog or a cat person, etc. What makes a great teacher? Many different things, but they all share two things. One, a passion for learning. Not only for the students, but that ever-present drive and curiosity to learn more themselves. To continuously grow and adapt. And two, caring for people around them, including their students; you genuinely want GOOD for them and want to help them succeed.
Okay, but pineapple on pizza might be a bridge too far. Go Hawaiian pizza!
Load More Replies...Does anyone else remember "The Waltons" or "Little House on the Prairie"? The teachers were always single, child-free women. They may have eventually married but in the beginning, they were single women. This used to be the norm, and is one reason why women dominated teaching jobs in primary schools for so long. That mom is simply delusional.
Back in her day, my grandma was like the last year who had to stop teaching because she got married. Only unmarried women were allowed to teach here, once they married they had to be at home/work on the farm.
Load More Replies...Just because you don’t have children of your own does not mean you have no clue how to deal with children—-especially if you have a degree in the subject, ffs. Considering so many of the p**s poor parenting I’ve seen from some parents, I’m thinking maybe some mandatory remedial parenting classes would do them some good. Well, at least they might, since they’d have to STFU, listen, and actually learn in order to reap those benefits. That would make some of them nothing but lost causes. Maybe the young, childless, educated, and devoted teachers can adopt the kids who got stuck with p**s poor parents.
Tell me you work with other people's children, without telling me you work with other people's children.
Load More Replies...Baffles me. I had 4 kids going through all the grades, and I never once enquired about their teachers' parental status. Shame on me! Good teachers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, (and so, alas, do bad ones) but I think it's good for the kids to encounter youth and enthusiasm, as well as (sometimes a bit jaded) experience.
It's despicable and sneaky that this woman goes behind your back to the school and lies to the principal. She tried to get your child switched to another class without your consent. If the teacher according to her isn't good enough for her kid,why should your kid have her as her teacher? I'd drop that so called " friend" for that behavior. You don't have to have children or be a certain age to be qualified to teach children. You have to work hard and get through your education and have a good relationship with kids. There were plenty of older teachers in school that sure as hell should not have been teaching when I was in school. We had an awful one who hated kids and taught absolutely nothing and spent the hour screaming at everyone and telling us how rotten we all were and how much she hated us. I eventually went to the dean's office and told him that I might as well be in detention during her hour because I wasn't going to be in her class anymore. There was another one who just read magazines and showed movies that had nothing to do with the subject he was teaching. She's so worried about whether or not the teacher is a parent or how old she is or how good of a teacher they will be, at least her kid won't be at that school . Biggest mistake my parents made was switching me from private school into public schools. Public schools just want bodies behind desks. They don't care.
Depends on the school, depends on the teachers. Sweeping statements are always inaccurate
Load More Replies...That's the whole freaking story! I was expecting there to be more than this st***d thing no one cares about.
No wonder teachers are quitting in droves! Who wants to have to deal with people like this???
In the first quarter of the 1900's, my aunt taught high school at 18. She went on to get her degrees and finally her masters. I thought she was a great teacher and I think her students thought so too.
all my worst teachers were like rly rly old, the new ones are usually pretty good
I'm more concerned that people still send their children to public school... Doesn't matter the age of the teacher or whether she has kids... Teachers don't teach anymore
When I was a kid (a long, long time ago) kindergarten and first grade teachers were usually the youngest teachers in my elementary school and were the most cheerful and energetic. Their lack of children (at that point) likely contributed positively to their abundance of cheer and energy
I've never heard of anything so absurd. Does she expect future grade school teachers to get pregnant in college as a graduation requirement, before they can get hired?
Let's look at this from a different perspective: I used to work in healthcare. I am a woman, and a lesbian. Not having the same anatomy (or preference for that anatomy) did NOT stop me from keeping my male patients clean...just saying...
If one pareñt thinks a teacher is bad then why would you want your friend 's kids to have them for one. Two, if you have doubts about a teacher then aßk the teacher what she teaches and different things like that.
So if she came from a large family, she could have 20 years of teaching and taking care of children smaller than her. Age does not equal experience.
It doesn't matter how old the teacher is. Because my daughter kindergarten teacher did not have any kids. And she was the best teacher out there and she was only 22. She's still alive. Yes, wonderful person, amazing woman Mason. I will never forget her and she just had a baby. Years after she left to school, but when she took my daughter, she didn't have no kids and she rated her like she was her own
These AITA posts are the stupidest, most obnoxious f*****g things ever. I used to enjoy that subreddit, but the last few years it's all s**t like this. Situations where people clearly know they're not TA but just want the fake internet points and clout and attention. It's disgusting and the people that continue to use it seriously absolutely baffle me.
As someone who was studying to be a teacher (swapped majors cause f*ck the edu system rn) this is disheartening that ppl believe young ppl cant have a job like that. How ELSE are we expected to get experience?!
The "friend" seems to be jealous of the teachers age and freedom while being childless and doesn't want to have to be around her minimally because of her child being in the class.
I was a high school teacher at 22. I was passionate and hard-working. My students (and by extension their parents) also never knew my age.
Please explain to me how a teacher's abilities to teach and whether or not they have children are connected? One has nothing to do with the other.
Why is being childless/childfree seen as a negative? I see it as positive: you are more objective in your assesment of children because you're emotional attachment to them is of a different kind.
I've known non-parents who were great with kids, and I've known a LOT of non-parents (especially online) who rant on and on about how horrible children and parenthood are. I would not want someone in the latter group teaching children. I had enough trouble with my 3rd grade teacher (married and a mother) who hated children.
Load More Replies...I've been a teacher since I'm 13yo (my mom had a foundation to help teaching children with difficulties) and I still don't have children today (40yo). I'm also autistic. I taught English to 2yo to 24yo, in schools and outside. I also taught French, Maths, History and Philosophy. I even taught Engligh to French deaf kids. And each time parents came to see me, it was to thank me their kid finally loved my matter. Being young makes you aware of new ways of thinking. Not having kid means you have all your time for the others'.
Sometimes it's very needed. I complained constantly about my 5th grade teacher being biased on certain students and hating the rest of us. The day I walked in after waking up in a flood with my bed floating in 8 feet of water so I sat on the roof of a floating trailer for 8 hours waiting to be rescued wearing my aunts clothing and too big shoes to the same teacher yelling at me for not having books or homework, so I told her next time I'll drown to make sure I get my back pack she slapped me with a ruler that had a metal side and it sliced from my eyebrow down my eyelid requiring an eye surgeon to repair it, and me wearing a eye patch for 6 weeks while it healed. If I'd been put in the other class as my mother requested the school would not have been out so much money and bad teacher fired half way through the year.
LOL! NTA!! I have a better idea for the "friend"... take your daughter out of the school so you can home school her instead or transfer her to another school. Fortunately, your "entitlement" card has been declined multiple times at the existing school she's in now. 😄
In the US 1st grade is 7... why is this kid in grade 1 as a 5 year old?
Kindergarten is generally 5, 1st grade 6. Because the birthdate cut off is decided at the district level in the U.S. the ages can vary slightly.
Load More Replies...First off, what is "childless"? Not having kids is the default in life, not "failure to breed". And if she doesn't want kids, she's ChildFREE, not "childless". Most people at 24 aren't married yet, let alone breeding. Her life, her choices, not that snooty nosy parker's. [ ........... ] Second, how long are graduates from college supposed to wait after getting teacher certificates before they become teachers? Ten years? A 24 year old teaching 18 year olds would be a bad idea, but teaching 5 year olds? Only an idiot would have a problem with that.
You said "A 24 year old teaching 18 year olds would be a bad idea" So by your reasoning a newly graduated teacher who has specifically aimed at teaching older students isn't allowed to do so at 24? What would you set as the minimum age? By the way, my sister started teaching high school students (ages 14-18) when she was 22, and did well at it, quickly becoming head of the English department at her school.
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