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We hope this doesn't ruin her Reputation! This mom knows Taylor Swift All Too Well.
By Megan Quinn — Written on Apr 11, 2023
When one mother scored tickets for her daughter to see one of her favorite artists in concert, she ensured that her teacher would be well aware as to why her daughter would not be attending school that day.
Instead of leaving a Blank Space on her daughter’s attendance record, the mother composed a hilarious letter explaining the real reason for her absence.
However, after sharing the note online, the mom was met with criticism and praise from Twitter users who were divided about the little girl's absence from school.
Filled with Taylor Swift puns, the mom's letter to her daughter's teacher has gone viral.
Any Swiftie would kill for the chance to see her live in concert, especially since tickets are often difficult to secure. If they manage to score tickets, going to school will definitely be a second priority.
One mother, Karen Vladeck, luckily managed to get tickets for herself and her first-grade daughter, Maddie, for Taylor Swift’s show in Houston, Texas on April 24 as part of her “Eras” tour.
Since it will be a school day, Vladeck had to notify her daughter’s teacher that she would not be in class and decided to do so in the best way possible.
“Dear Reader [Ms. Parks],” the email begins, with the subject line “It’s Me! Hi, I’m the Problem It’s Me!”
“I’m writing to let you know that Maddie won’t be in school on 4/24 because she is going to the Taylor Swift concert in Houston. I hope missing school doesn’t ruin her otherwise stellar Reputation, but she begged me to go and maybe I Should Have Said No but I didn’t want to be Mean. So It Goes…”
“Anyway, I hope this doesn’t leave any Bad Blood between you and Maddie and that things for the rest of the year and that things for the rest of the year are not Treacherous.”
“I know I Did Something Bad and I promise this will be The Last Time she has an unexcused absence before the Cruel Summer starts.”
“Here’s to hoping my daughter’s teacher first-grade teacher is a Swiftie,” Vladeck added to a screenshot of the hilarious email.
The letter is no doubt humorous and, with Swift's tickets being so hard to acquire, absolutely necessary. But, for some parents, the decision to take a kid out of school for a concert was a step too far.
"This is sad. Choose another date!" mused one user, a sentiment that was peppered across the replies to Vladeck's tweets. However, each criticism was met with support from other users who noted that missing one day in school is not life-changing but attending a Swift concert likely is!
As one user expertly put it, "While education is important I think you need to take a step back and look at it as spending quality time with your child/parent."
Other Twitter users, even if they were not Swifties, praised the mother for her creative letter.
“This is amazing!” one user commented.
“My Swiftie daughter who has a Sunday show in Nashville is also asking for a note like this. May use this as a template if you don’t mind,” another parent shared.
“I hope she doesn’t reply We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” another user wrote. Thankfully, Maddie’s teacher was indeed a Swiftie and claims that the letter “made her day.”
Additionally, Vladeck’s husband, who is clearly not a Swiftie, wasn’t sure what to think of his wife’s letter. The appropriate response to him would be, “You Need To Calm Down.”
Valdeck told TODAY that she has been a longtime fan of Swift’s and that this will be her daughter’s first concert.
“Parents now always talk about those core memories, but I do really hope in 20 years, she’s sitting around with her friends saying, ‘Oh, what was your first concert?’ and she says, ‘My mom took me to The Eras Tour when I was 7,'" the mother shares.
She is thrilled that she was able to make so many people laugh with her now-viral letter.
“There’s so much bad news right now, we can spend a couple of minutes just enjoying that someone wrote a funny note to their teacher and it doesn’t have to be that serious.”
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.