A Dad Is Unhappy After His Ex Disagreed With Principal's 'Dumb' Punishment & Took Their Daughter Out For A Fun Day Instead
She was sent to the principal's office instead of the nurse!
Look Studio / Shutterstock If you were ever sent to the principal's office, you'll recall the sweaty palms and anxious feeling that came with it. As you sit in the office, waiting for a parent or caretaker to pick you up from school, a lot may go through your head.
Perhaps, you think what you did wasn’t that bad and undeserving of such punishment. But rarely does a child’s mom side with them over the principal. One mother did just that, and people applauded her.
After the principal punished her, she took her daughter out of school to have fun.
A mother shared her experience on Reddit’s “r/AmItheA--hole” (AITA), a subreddit dedicated to people asking others if they acted appropriately in a situation or like an “a--hole.”
As she explains in her post, her daughter, a 7-year-old in the second grade, felt sick one day in class.
Unlike many children who puke on the spot, in the middle of the whole classroom, the little girl had the intuition to run out of the room to try to reach the bathroom. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it and threw up in the hallway. But that’s not the reason why she’s in trouble! Instead, it was for not asking her teacher before leaving class.
It’s difficult to speak when feeling like that, especially for a 7-year-old! Regardless, the principal wasn’t having it and dealt out punishment. The mother was called to the office, and the principal explained the situation.
“[She] was losing her privileges to go on the field trip the next week,” the mother wrote. The defiant mom responded by saying that the decision was “insane,” feeling that her daughter acted more than appropriately. “She made a snap judgment that I think most people would make.”
She added that her child was sent to the principal, not the nurse! Imagine being that young and dealing with punishment while feeling unwell. However, the principal did not listen to her pleas and “refused to change the decision.” So, she stepped up and gave her child a memorable couple of days off from school.
“I took my daughter out of school for the last 2 days of the week. Since she was missing the field trip I wanted her to have as much fun as possible,” she wrote.
The mother-daughter duo went to paint pottery, as well as to the amusement park and the movie theater. But when her father found out, he was upset.
“She told her father about this during his visitation time and he got very angry at me for undermining the principal,” she explained.
So, she took the subreddit to figure out if she acted like an “a--hole” or not.
People overwhelmingly supported her decision, calling her a ‘great mom.’
The subreddit gave her post the official badge “Not the A-hole.”
“You showed her that you have her back AND that the adults in charge are not always right. Both important things for her to learn,” one person commented.
More people shared words of affirmation for her conduct. But others felt that she should go a step further and call out the school for their poor treatment of the situation.
“I’d even file a complaint with the school board about her school ignoring your daughter’s health issue and punishing her instead,” one person commented.
It can be difficult for a parent to argue with their child’s school, but many people agreed that this mother made the right decision to stand by her daughter. Also, turning a bad situation into a fun-packed couple of days away from school surely made for a memorable experience for both of them.
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. He writes on entertainment and news.