Just thought it would be interesting to hear what the silliest thing a parent ever complained to you about

This morning I had a complaint that rates right up there with some of my silliest...Yesterday I was wrapping a few gifts. I explained to the kiddos who these gifts were for. Little Johnny's (age 6) mom came in today complaining that I broke his heart because I was wrapping gifts and I told him that they weren't for him. Little Johnny never bothered telling his mommy that these presents were for The kids at Charis House-a women's shelter locally. Sad part is-mom still seemed more concerned that her precious son was sad...the children who all helped with the wrapping were school age-well old enough to learn about doing for others. I could have easily done this alone in the evening, but I purposely had the SA kids help to be included in the spirit of giving.

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Oh my goodness. That is ridiculous! I love that you're doing that. Wonderful lesson for the kids! Dcm needs to get a grip. Sadly, her attitude is becoming more and more common.

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That is ridiculous.

The only one that comes to mind is fairly recent. That I was changing the child TOO much. (They thought leaving the child in poop for extended periods of time would help potty train him.)

They also wanted me to give him options on everything- even what/when/where to eat, sleep, drink, potty, etc.

NO. NO. NO.

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when my "free spirit" family questioned why I made them hold their child's hand upon arrival/departure....we have a 6 acre plot of land and the mom would let the child run all over it in the morning and evening. The mom said "oh, xxxx, Ms. xxxx says you can't play in the yard"....we live near the 4-lane highway I should not have had to tell her that but some parents need parented.

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They never made it past the tour, but i had a prospective parent ask where the swing was for their infant. Complete shock when i said i don't put babies in containers.

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Once a month we celebrate the monthly birthdays.

Had a family years ago that got so mad at me because our birthday celebration day fell before her child's family party.

the kid was turning 3.

according to the mother, I ruined his family party because the child said I don't want another party, I already had one at school....

so they asked me to stop doing birthday celebrations.

OMG. all we do is eat cupcake and sing happy birthday to the child with candles and all of the dcks make a card for the birthday kids.

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So, one of you is going to collect all of these and turn it into a summer comedy script, right?

"This summer, enroll in the funniest family day care."
*baby farting sound*
"Selena Gomez is Auntie Dumpling."
*slide whistle sound as Selena Gomez slips in mushed peas and falls flat on her back*
Parent: "Could you please stop celebrating birthdays? Melinda feels threatened when other children receive attention."
*slide whistle sound as Melinda dumps cake on Selena Gomez's head*
"So sign in to Auntie Dumpling's Day Care, coming soon to a theater near you!"
*slide whistle sound as Melinda's mom puts the car into drive instead of reverse and takes out a porch column*

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I had this free spirit family. First family I had to term. Dcb was a hitter, only here 2 days a week. One morning he hit something crazy like 17 times before 9:30 am. And I was right next to him! Sometimes it was me he hit. They were gone that day.

2 years later that dcb is out of control Parents refuse to discipline. Want to know if dcb can come back

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I had a parent with a child who has asthma/allergies - asked if we could cancel outdoor time so her child wouldn't be exposed to allergens. I told her no.

They lasted a week.

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lol...only in CA

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That reminds me of a dcb that I have that gets really bad mosquito bites. I live in the woods

I spray for him (nothing harmful), but he still gets a few bad bites a week during the bad parts of the year. Dcm wanted me to keep him inside. Nope......

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One spring, I had the kids do a craft that included coloring a bird. One of my dc moms complained that the birds were colored brown instead of grayish brown. She apologized the next day.

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This is hilarious

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Every year I buy a bunch of gloves/mittens/hats and then each dck picks a pair of gloves/mittens and a hat to take to the bank and put in the 'donation' box for the homeless shelters. My daycare kids who are involved in this are all 4 and under. That 6 yr olds dcm is a piece of work.

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Had to ask one family to leave because their child was so violent. He was just about 3 (just turned if I remember) and would kick and hit all day. Started out at 2 days per week, then went full time. His first fill time week he kept picking on the kids, then at nap tried to suffocate one with a blanket. Moments latter tried to pour baby powered on him while straddling the poor boy!
We moved him out of the nap room, and let mom know that day that he would need to leave. Her request? "well do I get my money back for the week?"
She then proceeded to report us for child abuse, because that's the ONLY reason her precious baby would do those things...

Another parent came to me one morning irate and yelled at me that it was MY fault she HAD to buy her spoiled 4yr old a cake last night. I asked why and she said because when he was in time out (near our kitchen at the time) he saw my birthday cake that I was SO mean in not offering to him ... in time out... that she was FORCED to buy one on the way home...

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Whoa!

I feel like we could write a very entertaining "how not to raise your child" book from the collection of stories on here.

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Yeh, that cake story really ummm takes the cake. Bad provider forcing momma to buy her ds a cake. I worry about the future of some of these kids.

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These are great! I had a dcp that wanted me to basically document her child's full day. She wanted to know what and how much of each item 3 yo dcb ate and what he said and did. She even came one day to watch him while he was here and questioned him on everything. Once I saw her for the helicopter parent she is and she saw that I was not going to document every part of her child's day we parted ways.

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I have had parents complain about "screen time" because my TV was in the same area as the daycare. I NEVER put the TV on during daycare, we don't even have cable. My own kids are allowed to watch TV in the morning while I get ready for work and while I am cooking dinner and on weekends. I explained this multiple times but the parents were constantly mentioning/complaining about TV and its negative side affects on kids, and their concern about dck being exposed to the TV while at my house. I finally moved the TV upstairs completely away from any daycare areas just to shut them up.

Fast forward a year and a half, and their little one has started talking. All she talks about is Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, Curious George, ect. So I guess TV really isn't all that bad

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I don't know how many of you use handwriting without tears… But one mom complained that Matt Man does not have a neck. She told her child to make sure to put a neck on Mat Man every time.

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I can laugh about it now.

I wonder if our dc moms are related?

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I let the kids explore with peanut butter. I told all parents before hand. Mom said I was wasting food and that I could be giving it to the homeless. I asked her why didn't she go and feed the homeless herself then and she said she does. On Thanksgiving. That's it. Just 1 time a year. This is the family I termed a while back. Dcb had a blast with the peanut butter.

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I could write a book on just this parent, ugh! One of my first families, and VERY much the reason for some of my policy's now lol.
One day at pick up the same little boy came over and held my hand "aww cute" right? ... No, he actually grabbed my hand to wipe boogers up my arm... Mom laughed and I left the room (leaving them with our other provider) I ended up texting the mom later apologizing for leaving without saying anything. She wrote back and said "Yeah really, boogers are part of the job. He just did it to you because I do it to him.."

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I consider myself truly blessed to have normal sane parents. All your stories are head-shaking hilariously sad(for the kids and what they're learning from adults) 'are you kidding me?' stories. It's like what the heck are they thinking???

I have only 1 little snippet that I remember from probably 25 years ago. Dcb was 3-4 and always bugged my own ds. Dcd told my son he could hit him if he wanted to. I said no, he cant. But my story pales in comparison.

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who doesn't feed hungry on Thanksgiving? she should try something like, I dunno, June 1-st or something. people eat every day.

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What she said. I grew up on gov't assistance. We had three turkeys in the freezer one Thanksgiving. . . after a long spring, summer, and fall living off of store brand mac and cheese, canned potatoes, and oily peanut butter. (Canned potatoes. CANNED. POTATOES. White crumbly flavorless lumps in water. Nutritional value is about what you'd get out of eating the label off the can. Who buys that in the first place, much less sends it to the food bank?!)

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I used canned potatoes in a salad (with 100500 other ingredients, so they worked okay), but eating them by themselves, like potatoes? c'mon. and fresh ones may be actually cheaper.
we have a FreeCycle group in town, they collect food for Thanksgiving/Christmas that the group leader distributes herself. good, they feed people. but then Spring comes, with all the lack of vitamins, and Summer, with heat and all... and everyone forgets about those people they fed so well over the holidays. as if they only need to eat for about a month a year.
I'm not going to brag that I volunteer at a soup kitchen: I don't. but it is in the Summer I remember all the canned stuff I've been squirreling away and take it to the food bank. no, no canned potatoes it is a drop in a bucket, I fully realize it. but, hey, "do what you can and let it be."

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Probably the parent who kept telling me I needed 5 sets of everything so that every child could play with any toy at any time. Every time I tried to explain the importance of learning sharing/ taking turns/ cooperative play is turned into some variation of "but then DCK won't always get what he wants".

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Like so many of these, the only response is, "I think what you're actually looking for is a nanny."

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The craziest thing that anyone ever asked of me was when a DCM asked me to not only NOT tell her son NO but she wanted me to also prohibit everyone from saying NO. And I'm not just talking about her not wanting us to tell him NO but she didn't want the use of the word NO at all, ever. So even if he asked me a question that required a NO as an answer ("Can penguins fly?") she didn't want me using the word, didn't want the daycare kids using the word, didn't want my own kids or husband using the word, didn't want me to allow THE OTHER PARENTS FROM USING THE WORD NO!

I told her NO

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Yeah when she said she only fed the homeless on Thanksgiving I gave her the side eye. I help the community all the time. I think me letting the kids explore with half a can of peanut butter is okay. She also had lots of other issues I won't get into now

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Wow! I swear adults need to take classes on how to become parents. Ridiculous!

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as long as there are no allergies preventing an activity, I'm all for that. my daughter loves sensory play, and digging her fingers into peanut butter would thrill her to no end.

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I am newly licensed and have been doing tours/interviews and the last one I did had to be the best. I explained the healthy meals I serve as I'm on a food program and she says "Oh no no my child would never eat anything like that if I provided them would you make him chicken nuggets and fries everyday?" I stopped there and explained I opened my daycare because I have a lot to offer these children and I no longer nanny as I want to do things the way I feel is best for the children who enter my home for care and giving her child chicken nuggets and fries every day is not what's best in my opinion and that she should look elsewhere as my daycare is for all the children not just 1 and even my son who loves himself some chicken nuggets and fries had to eat whats on the menu for everyone. I couldn't believe that someone would even ask that and expect I'd serve her kid chicken nuggets and fries and tell all the other kids they have to eat their sandwhich, pasta, taco, etc. Really?! She also asked I never allow him to nap even if he's tired and fussy as she likes to lay him down at 6:30 nightly and needs to ensure he falls asleep by then... he was 3!

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Back in 2008 (after 8 years of daycare) I had a family ask if I would serve fried chicken, say prayers before meals & teach bible stories; if you had read my website it's obvious I am not a Christian only daycare ( I am nature based), much less one that fries food lol.

To this day I get such silly requests that I put it on my website that I will not cater to each families personal needs because I am a business owner not a personal nanny... this includes NOT serving all the kids vegan meals, teaching bible stories or co sleeping lol

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wow some of these are so shocking. I wonder what parents think when their child goes on to formal schooling...

I recall having a parent that was so angry at me during an interview. they wanted g-ma to be able to come and stay with the child all day. I had to laugh I couldn't resist saying, then what do you need me for.....

the odd thing was that they did not get it at all when I told them I couldn't allow for it.

I wonder what people are thinking sometimes.

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They don't think....that's the problem! I had a dcm say this week "I know your contract says payment is due 52 weeks per year but does that include your Christmas break" Only one more day this week and I am done until Jan 4....so need the break!

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Must be her year has more than 52 weeks?

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The last center I was at (years ago) I had a family ask if I would leave piles of food on the floor scattered throughout the room so their child could crawl & walk around while grazing on the food. She said this is what they do at home because he wouldn't sit and eat at the table.

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OMG I am dying at this one. REALLY!? I can't believe people do that. I make my kids eat at the table, together, with us. WTH are people thinking...I can't imagine asking SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THIS FOR ME!?

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I had a mom who wanted her 12 month old to just fall asleep on the floor wherever she got tired. That's how they did it at home. Baby would just crawl around until she was exhausted and crash out on the floor. When she woke up, she would get back up and crawl away. It took a few weeks of training, but she did end up being a great napper, in a pack n play.

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Yup. It was a first for me. This particular center was a hoity toity "private preschool" that enrolled infants through school age. We were near an Intel campus and therefore had a lot of families from Intel. A lot of those families also happened to not be native to the US. We had a LOT of unusual requests and complaints.

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I had one that did this and the food piling infant request, too! He was my screamer baby (and last infant-EVER). They called him a 'free range' baby. DD babysat for them, and not even their home was childproofed. NOTHING. He had no routine, no schedule, no set sleeping area. His whole life was an unstructured mess. DD said they treated him like their dog. eg "Dcb want a treat, come here, come here" and would sprinkle food on the floor.

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>_< That's not free range. That's continuing to live as though you have no children. The whole concept of free range is to equip your children to live like adults sooner, building their survival and judgment skills. >_<

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It sounded like non-parenting to me.

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I had one complain that the reason he missed out on his daughter's holiday party at her preschool was because I had closed the day before for a snow day
Of course all the other times he had taken days off (still sending in her in) had *nothing* to do with his lack of PTO

(And he never attended any preschool function or participated in anything extra they did, but he wanted to guilt me into believing it was some how my fault. )

His new DC is open until 5:30 and even though he's home by 4:30, she's at DC until close. Don't miss him at all.

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I've had multiple families who had grazer children.... but they asked me to leave the food on the table, not the floor.

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I've had multiple interviews with this type of family, too. Increasingly over the past 2 years. I ask a lot of screening questions about nap time but still I end up with a few of these, here and there. See my other threads on nap issues. I was never able to get them to acclimate.

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there is a joke about a man going to immigration services and asking how he can move to the US. the officer hands him a paper and says, "here, just fill this application out." the man then asks if he could move to Italy instead. the officer again hands him an application and asks him to fill it out. then the man says, "but what if I want to move elsewhere?" the officer hands the man a globe and says, "here, choose the country and let me know, I'll find the correct application." the man looks all over the globe for a few minutes and then asks, "do you happen to have another globe?"

they must be related. another globe, another calendar...

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That is exactly what is reminds me of, having a dog.

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Even most dogs have more structure than that.

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When I first started teaching, I had a dcm complain that she didn't like me cheerfully telling her that her dcg "had a good day." She explained that dcg horribly misbehaved at home, so she didn't like hearing that she behaved for us at school. Then, she told my teaching partner that I had just given her a "blank stare" when she told me this.

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I work at a Center and we had parents who were up in arms because their kids weren't allowed to bring in their tablets to use "if they got bored". The children were 1 1/2 and almost 3.

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