Mum scolded by teacher for not inviting whole class to daughter's birthday party
Birthday parties can cause so much unnecessary stress for parents, especially if their children want a really specific type of celebration. But one woman took to Reddit to say her daughter wanted just four people at her party, describing her eight-year-old as an 'introvert' - but her class teacher had an issue with that.
The hassled mum took to Reddit's 'Am I the a**hole' forum to explain the whole situation and people were really horrified that the teacher waded in when it wasn't necessary.
She said that the usual celebrations included 'ice cream and a paint-your-own ceramic activity, or something like that', but she was accused of 'lack of inclusivity' by the teacher.
The young girl didn't want many people at her party, but her teacher wasn't happy with that (Stock Image) (Getty Images)The mum fumed: "I [38F] have a daughter [8F] who is a shy, bookish introvert. She isn’t popular, and she would prefer to read at the library than go to a big giant social event. She has 4 really very good friends in her class of roughly 30 kids. I’ll add that some of her classmates are not very nice to her.
"So her birthday is coming up and she specifically asked me if we could do something, her and her 4 friends. This is what has been going on since she was young, we've never thrown an actual giant Instagram birthday party.
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"We're not poor by any means but we’re not rich and we live in a small apartment so what we’d normally do is me, her, and her 4 friends would go out for ice cream and a paint-your-own ceramic activity, or something like that.
"However, word got out that my daughter is 'having a party' and I got an email from her teacher where she essentially called me out for my 'lack of inclusivity'. She said that she had gotten complaints from other kids in her class that my daughter was being a bully for only inviting certain people (re: her close friends) and the teacher told me that now I had to invite the whole class.
"I cannot afford to host a party for 30 kids, or bring 30 kids to an activity. I also was afraid of my daughter getting bullied at her own party and wanted this to be a safe space for her. So I politely told the teacher this and explained that it wasn't even a party but a get-together for her closest friends.
"Now I’m getting loads of angry emails from parents of kids who weren’t invited asking me why not and pressuring me to invite their kids. One even accused me of being discriminatory against their son because he has asthma.
"I've had 10 angry emails and I’m starting to think maybe I should invite all the kids in the spirit of inclusivity and have it in a park or something."
People were confused by the teacher's insistence to invite the whole class, especially since the original plans only included the young girl's four best friends anyway.
One wrote: "If you invited 28 kids out of that class, you would be excluding two children. But 4 friends is totally fine. No kid in that class has the impression "everyone is invited but me". This is ridiculous."
Another fumed: "This. Not the first post I'm seeing of a teacher forcing a parent to invite the entire class, I find it so strange. In the 90s our teachers didn't give two hoots about what we did at home with our friends."
Someone else said: "It makes sense to not have invitations handed out in class if the whole class isn't invited. That's the only rule of this type I can get behind because if you exclude anyone it's obvious to everyone there.
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This isn't even close to that. Regardless of the number of kids involved, they organised this get-together away from the school. It's none of this teacher's business."
What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comments.
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