I work at a daycare in a large gym. We have lots of activities for the kids, but one boy in particular loves to draw, so we always give him paper and crayons.

Boy: “What should I draw today?”

Me: “How about you draw me a picture of what you want to be when you grow up?”

The boy thinks for a moment and then nods to himself and gets to it! A while later, he brings me a crayon drawing typical of a five-year-old.

Boy: “This is a picture of me eating cereal!”

Me: “You want to eat cereal when you grow up? Don’t you eat cereal now?”

Boy: “No, this is me eating cereal for dinner! When I’m grown up, I can do that!”

Me: “That’s awesome, but maybe you could draw me what you want to be when you grow up, not just what you’re eating.”

I think he understands, and he disappears with his drawing. Very quickly, he’s back:

Boy: *Presents updated drawing* “When I grow up, I will have two bowls of cereal for dinner!”

Dream big, little guy!

We have one mother at our daycare who is the absolute worst. She’s entitled, snobby, rude, and a cheapskate, she’s always late in picking up her child, and she’s always complaining to our head office to get us into trouble for non-issues; she actually managed to get one of us fired. She is evil.

I am tidying up a play area while my coworker is looking after this mother’s child. The mother is late again, and it’s a half-hour after we close. The mother finally waltzes in and picks up her child. My coworker talks to her while I continue what closing duties I can. Suddenly, I see the mother stiffen and walk out slowly without complaining like she usually does.

Me: “What did you say to her that shut her up so much?”

Coworker: “Oh, I just congratulated her child for taking his first steps.”

Me: “But he hasn’t managed to walk yet.”

Coworker: “Oh, I know, but she doesn’t know that. Now she’ll think she’s missed his first steps.”

At first, it seemed cruel to take that away from her, but as her nasty behavior continued and actually got worse, I felt less and less sorry for her.

CONTENT WARNING: Abusive Parenting

I’m a daycare teacher. Parents bringing their kids to daycare come in all attitudes and entitlements. Some are blatantly unaware of just how badly they come across.

One mom practically runs into the classroom with her three-year-old son being dragged along. I say, “dragged,” because it really isn’t far off. He stumbles and falls twice along the way.

Mom: “Well, here’s [Son]. He has a fever, but I can’t take care of him and I’m already in a rush for a meeting.”

Me: “Are you sure about this? He doesn’t look quite well.”

Mom: “Well, what do you want me to do about it? I need to go. Bye!”

[Mom] darts off without even a hug or a kiss. I can already tell he probably won’t be able to stay here for the day because there’s only so much attention we can give to a single child before we have to get a parent to pick him/her up.

I lay him down on the couch and make him comfortable with a blanket and some water before submitting him to having to take his temperature. It’s well over 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) already, and under any circumstance, that’s well over the limit that protocol has us call the parents to pick their child up and take care of him.

Of course, [Mom] doesn’t pick up her phone, but in her defense, she is probably still driving. I leave her a voicemail message and a text message to come to pick up her child. 

Despite my calling her every fifteen minutes, there’s no response for an hour. [Son]’s temperature has now spiked and passed the 40°C/104°F mark. After calling another two times, I’m ready to put on his coat and take him to a doctor (which means leaving the other children under the care of only one teacher, something that’s actually illegal in this country).

Just when I start to do so, [Mom] comes barging in and completely breaks the serenity and peace of the group (while simultaneously waking two sleeping children).

Mom: “How dare you disturb my important workday by stalking my phone and interrupting my meeting?! Do you even have a clue what I do?!”

Me: “I’m sorry, I really am. But your son is so ill and weak that he really needs to see a doctor. But perhaps even more important, he needs to be with a parent. We cannot take care of him and he needs to go home with you. His well-being is more important than anything else right now.”

[Mom] actually gets in my face and snarls.

Mom: “Do… you… really think my well-being is ever important to him when I have a headache?”

At least she had the “decency” to carry him outside instead of dragging him along again. Man, do I feel sorry for that poor little man.

I work in a daycare. A mother comes in, picks up her toddler, and then comes back in a few seconds later.

Mother: “What did you do to my son’s hair? It’s never looked like this before!”

Me: “We brushed it.”

Mother: *Pauses* “Oh.”

I work for a cruise line helping with a children’s activity area. Parents are allowed to drop children off to be watched by us for a little while. One day, a man dropped off his young son with us. It was close to Mother’s Day, so we had little Mother’s Day cards to color, and my coworker tried getting the boy to make one.

Boy: “Does it say Mommy?”

Coworker: “It says Mom right here.”

Boy: “Do you have a Daddy one?”

Coworker: “You mean for Father’s Day?”

Boy: “Yes, please.”

Coworker: “But Father’s Day is a long way away. Mother’s Day is soon so maybe you should make something for your mom first.”

Boy: “I don’t have a mommy.”

Coworker: “What do you mean?”

Boy: “I have two daddies instead of a mommy. Aunt [Name] was pregnant for my daddies, but she is my aunt not a mommy.”

Coworker: “Oh, umm…”

Me: “Oh. It was nice of your aunt to help your dads, and it is nice of you to want to make something for them. Just give me a minute and I’ll get a special Father’s Day card you can color for them.”

We have similar cards we used for Father’s Day, so I printed out one for the child. Then, using a thick pen so it would hopefully stand out against kid coloring, I put an apostrophe after the S in “father’s” and tried my best to turn the apostrophe in front of the S into a tilted heart, so it would read as “Fathers’ Day” instead. The kid happily decorated it before moving on to other activities.

I’d mostly forgotten about the exchange until the man who dropped the boy off and another man walked into the center. The kid immediately shouted, “Dad!” and got up to run to them. I was busy with some other kids, but I did notice the kid proudly presenting the card to his dads while talking animatedly.

A little while later, one of the men came up to me.

Man: “My son told me you made a special Fathers’ Day card just for him. I just wanted to say that my husband and I really appreciate your doing that for him. We’re going to hang this card up as soon as we get home. Thank you.”

It really was nothing special on my part; it only took a few minutes. But his thanks warmed me anyway.