Elementary school teachers

Death, I have to disagree. Honestly...

I’m not putting the child on trial here. My point was simply that we need to sit them down and have a serious conversation about it. This isn't a one-off occurrence; it will happen again, and they eventually need to learn how to shoulder their own responsibilities—like realizing that grabbing a cookie isn't worth causing trouble for the rest of the family.

And really, how can you assume a ten-year-old wouldn't grasp the concept of borrowing? You're underestimating them...

If I were a teacher, there is absolutely no way I’d be asking for that money back. Personally? I’d be too embarrassed to show my face. Look, teachers have lives too—they aren't going to drop dead over $10. We're talking about two coffees here!
Honestly, I think the teacher is intentionally pushing back against Laura. Since the kid had his own food with him, he could have just eaten at McDonald's. There's nothing shameful about that.
On the flip side, I feel like the mom is being a bit impulsive. She really needs to chill out when communicating with the teacher—after all, her kid still has a few years left at that school.

Alright, I figured it was about time I jumped in and shared my two cents on this whole situation too. $7.00Look, this whole situation doesn't sound great, and it definitely makes the teacher look bad, but we’re only seeing one side of the coin here. Who knows how many stories like this happen behind closed doors in a teacher's daily grind? If you have five kids in your class dealing with serious family or financial struggles, chances are someone is going to need a hand more often than you'd think. I can't tell you how many times I've personally stepped up and lent money to a student—someone who wasn't even in a tough spot, just caught off guard. It would be something like: "Oh, you forgot your bus fare? Don't worry about it, I'll cover you today, just get it back to me tomorrow. We need to turn in the field trip money to the front office right now, so just take this and pay me back when you can." And honestly? About half the time, that money was gone for good. But let's be real—it feels pretty petty to go pulling a kid aside or making a scene over twenty bucks. $10But then, everything just went sideways. $6.75 Look, I’m 30 years old, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that lending money to students is like trying to fill a bottomless pit. It just never ends. So, I finally made a call: I am officially done being the classroom bank. From now on, my response is always the same: "Hey, we have to turn this cash in to the school accounting office by the end of the day for these specific fees. You didn't bring yours? No big deal. I'll hand in everyone else's money, and you can just take yours down to the office yourself whenever you actually have it." I truly believe that no matter what kind of job you have, you need to maintain a certain level of professional distance. If you don't set those boundaries, you're just asking for a headache.
Look, maybe this teacher decided she’s going to play small-time lender for her students, but she always expects to be paid back. Who even knows how much cash she’s pulling out of her own wallet every time one of those five kids facing hardship hits a rough patch? And honestly, why would she give $3 to our friend's son but not the others? Should she be giving it to everyone? Or maybe she shouldn't be lending money to anyone at all? That’s really the question we should be chewing on here.

Lisa Rivera said:Death, I have to disagree. Honestly...

I’m not putting the child on trial here. My point was simply that we need to sit them down and have a serious conversation about it. This isn't a one-off occurrence; it will happen again, and they eventually need to learn how to shoulder their own responsibilities—like realizing that grabbing a cookie isn't worth causing trouble for the rest of the family.

And really, how can you assume a ten-year-old wouldn't grasp the concept of borrowing? You're underestimating them...

Look, I can explain things to him. He’s not stupid.

But seriously... everyone else is sitting there eating their Happy Meals... he's the only one without one.
Even if he totally understands the concept of sharing and Mom gave him a full lecture on it... you can't really blame the kid for grabbing that five bucks.

Ashley Patel said:If I were a teacher, there is absolutely no way I’d be asking for that money back. Personally? I’d be too embarrassed to show my face. Look, teachers have lives too—they aren't going to drop dead over $10. We're talking about two coffees here!
Honestly, I think the teacher is intentionally pushing back against Laura. Since the kid had his own food with him, he could have just eaten at McDonald's. There's nothing shameful about that.
On the flip side, I feel like the mom is being a bit impulsive. She really needs to chill out when communicating with the teacher—after all, her kid still has a few years left at that school.

Yeah, exactly. Pushing back intentionally... 🙄
The teacher did what I believe any reasonable adult would do in her shoes: she lent the boy some cash so he wouldn't feel left out from his peers.
She lent it, she didn't give it as a gift, because a handout can feel like charity—and I don't think either the child or the mother would appreciate that.

The kid did exactly what any child would do in that spot: he took the money and enjoyed his meal.

The mother is overreacting because she's fixated on the teacher's actions, which were actually quite predictable and expected. I don't see a huge issue here. You messed up, you pay the money back, and that's it. No big deal.

Lisa Rivera said:Death, I have to disagree. Honestly...

I’m not putting the child on trial here. My point was simply that we need to sit them down and have a serious conversation about it. This isn't a one-off occurrence; it will happen again, and they eventually need to learn how to shoulder their own responsibilities—like realizing that grabbing a cookie isn't worth causing trouble for the rest of the family.

And really, how can you assume a ten-year-old wouldn't grasp the concept of borrowing? You're underestimating them...

Sure, a kid understands what it means to borrow money, but try to remember what you were actually like when you were ten.
I mean, what ten-year-old is always following the rules, acting totally rational, responsible, and all that other stuff?!?!
Most kids are busy begging for a Happy Meal, while this one is sitting there eating bran flakes? Give me a break—who wouldn't want to borrow some cash?
Have you seriously never borrowed anything in your life, or used a credit card, or even gone into the red at the bank once?!

No matter how much he tries to act grown, at ten years old, that kid is still just a child.
Of course he took the money for the party; he didn't want to be the odd man out from his group of friends.

What kid wouldn't?

hiddendriver34 said:Alright, I figured it was about time I jumped in and shared my two cents on this whole situation too. $7.00Look, this whole situation doesn't sound great, and it definitely makes the teacher look bad, but we’re only seeing one side of the coin here. Who knows how many stories like this happen behind closed doors in a teacher's daily grind? If you have five kids in your class dealing with serious family or financial struggles, chances are someone is going to need a hand more often than you'd think. I can't tell you how many times I've personally stepped up and lent money to a student—someone who wasn't even in a tough spot, just caught off guard. It would be something like: "Oh, you forgot your bus fare? Don't worry about it, I'll cover you today, just get it back to me tomorrow. We need to turn in the field trip money to the front office right now, so just take this and pay me back when you can." And honestly? About half the time, that money was gone for good. But let's be real—it feels pretty petty to go pulling a kid aside or making a scene over twenty bucks. $10But then, everything just went sideways. $6.75 Look, I’m 30 years old, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that lending money to students is like trying to fill a bottomless pit. It just never ends. So, I finally made a call: I am officially done being the classroom bank. From now on, my response is always the same: "Hey, we have to turn this cash in to the school accounting office by the end of the day for these specific fees. You didn't bring yours? No big deal. I'll hand in everyone else's money, and you can just take yours down to the office yourself whenever you actually have it." I truly believe that no matter what kind of job you have, you need to maintain a certain level of professional distance. If you don't set those boundaries, you're just asking for a headache.
Look, maybe this teacher decided she’s going to play small-time lender for her students, but she always expects to be paid back. Who even knows how much cash she’s pulling out of her own wallet every time one of those five kids facing hardship hits a rough patch? And honestly, why would she give $3 to our friend's son but not the others? Should she be giving it to everyone? Or maybe she shouldn't be lending money to anyone at all? That’s really the question we should be chewing on here.

I think people genuinely forget that lending money like this can end up causing massive headaches for the teacher herself.

At the parent-teacher conference tomorrow, this could all come to light—maybe one of the kids overheard something or figured it out and mentioned it at home, and then suddenly, some mom is going to demand to know why the teacher didn't pay for everyone and why that one kid gets special treatment. 🤷 At the end of the day, if parents are sending their kids off with zero cash only to have a teacher cover them at McDonald's, they're basically being irresponsible.

IMHO, I suspect the OP is perhaps a little bitter about her own life (which, I get, totally), but I don't think it's right to project that onto the child. Ultimately, I find it pretty irresponsible to send a kid to another city without a single cent in their pocket. They could have gotten lost, or something could have happened (God forbid), or an unexpected expense could have popped up, and they wouldn't have had even a dollar to fall back on.

Don't act like these things don't happen. I remember this one middle school field trip where our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. We somehow managed to trek to the nearest gas station and ended up spending most of the night there. Our lunchbox sandwiches were gone in no time, and the corporate credit card the trip organizer was carrying—the kind meant for emergencies—wasn't even accepted at that station, let alone was there an ATM in sight. It happens. We had to scramble to buy food ourselves in that moment, even though the travel agency eventually covered everything by treating us to a free day trip later because of the mess.

So, I just got off the phone with the teacher.

Here’s the deal.
She thought he had just forgotten to bring it. When she asked him why he wasn't buying anything, he just said he didn't have any money and went quiet—though he did mention he’d love to eat it. So, she just lent it to him. She told him to just pay her back whenever he can.
I told her I’d follow up with him tomorrow, but she seemed to think there was no real rush.

Anyway, here’s what actually happened...
I explained to her again exactly what kind of mess I'm in right now—I even showed her my leg and how bad the stress sores look—and asked why she hadn't realized I wouldn't be coming back to talk to her. I told her that since nothing has changed since we last spoke, it's honestly embarrassing to keep walking in there and telling people I'm at my absolute breaking point. My strength and my nerves are just gone.

I also brought up that permission slip thing. Honestly, when you've driven 50 or 60 kids over to McDonald's, you'd think they could throw in one free meal for the trouble! They made a killing off that trip; they aren't going to go broke over one burger and a handful of fries.
She claimed she had no idea about that part.

She said I should come by next time to let her know—if things are still this bad—and she'll just report one fewer student.

Look, I told her I felt terrible about how everything turned out. I knew this would happen, and if I had known, I would have just lent him the cash myself.
I also pointed out that when someone is offering you money, you aren't exactly going to say "no"... even though I've asked him a hundred times already. But once someone else shoves it in his pocket, suddenly, oh, it's just enough for ice cream.
Truth be told, if someone shoved cash into my hand, I wouldn't say no either...😁

It's a different situation, though. Clearly, in that moment, caught up in the smells coming from McDonald's, he didn't stop to realize he hadn't actually been given anything. Now, it's done.

And yeah, I asked her why it’s become such a trend to head to McDonald's all the time.
She just says kids love it... and well, whatever. Kids love all sorts of things these days.

Anyway, the matter is settled.

Kimberly Robinson2 said:So, I just got off the phone with the teacher.

Here’s the deal.
She thought he had just forgotten to bring it. When she asked him why he wasn't buying anything, he just said he didn't have any money and went quiet—though he did mention he’d love to eat it. So, she just lent it to him. She told him to just pay her back whenever he can.
I told her I’d follow up with him tomorrow, but she seemed to think there was no real rush.

Anyway, here’s what actually happened...
I explained to her again exactly what kind of mess I'm in right now—I even showed her my leg and how bad the stress sores look—and asked why she hadn't realized I wouldn't be coming back to talk to her. I told her that since nothing has changed since we last spoke, it's honestly embarrassing to keep walking in there and telling people I'm at my absolute breaking point. My strength and my nerves are just gone.

I also brought up that permission slip thing. Honestly, when you've driven 50 or 60 kids over to McDonald's, you'd think they could throw in one free meal for the trouble! They made a killing off that trip; they aren't going to go broke over one burger and a handful of fries.
She claimed she had no idea about that part.

She said I should come by next time to let her know—if things are still this bad—and she'll just report one fewer student.

Look, I told her I felt terrible about how everything turned out. I knew this would happen, and if I had known, I would have just lent him the cash myself.
I also pointed out that when someone is offering you money, you aren't exactly going to say "no"... even though I've asked him a hundred times already. But once someone else shoves it in his pocket, suddenly, oh, it's just enough for ice cream.
Truth be told, if someone shoved cash into my hand, I wouldn't say no either...😁

It's a different situation, though. Clearly, in that moment, caught up in the smells coming from McDonald's, he didn't stop to realize he hadn't actually been given anything. Now, it's done.

And yeah, I asked her why it’s become such a trend to head to McDonald's all the time.
She just says kids love it... and well, whatever. Kids love all sorts of things these days.

Anyway, the matter is settled.

Well, there you have it... the woman is perfectly reasonable and kind-hearted. The little guy just didn't have anything on him, so she lent it to him. It’s quite funny how people are making such a massive deal out of this when the reality is so simple...😁

It feels like there's a whole lot of commotion over absolutely nothing... 😬

Well, now that the original poster's issue has been sorted out, I’d like to restate my questions—mostly directed toward elementary school teachers:

What is this growing trend where kids seem to have more and more "field trips" every single year that require extra fees?
Are all these excursions actually mandated by the Department of Education's curriculum and programming?
Does the official curriculum even include testing or grading based on the "content" covered during these trips?

And honestly, where does the idea come from to take kids to big cities just to eat at McDonald's😕 instead of providing packed lunches? Can't the school just waive the meal cost for those specific days when the kids are away and won't be eating at the cafeteria—especially since, in the lower grades, almost every student relies on school meals?

Peter Doyle2 said:Well, now that the original poster's issue has been sorted out, I’d like to restate my questions—mostly directed toward elementary school teachers:

What is this growing trend where kids seem to have more and more "field trips" every single year that require extra fees?
Are all these excursions actually mandated by the Department of Education's curriculum and programming?
Does the official curriculum even include testing or grading based on the "content" covered during these trips?

And honestly, where does the idea come from to take kids to big cities just to eat at McDonald's😕 instead of providing packed lunches? Can't the school just waive the meal cost for those specific days when the kids are away and won't be eating at the cafeteria—especially since, in the lower grades, almost every student relies on school meals?

My kid is in first grade, and honestly, the constant grading caught me off guard too$6.75 like, getting a 10 for this or a 5 for that... man, if I didn't just go along with it, I wouldn't know what to do. It's impossible to tell a kid "we can't afford the movies" when everyone else in class is going🤷

And about the McDonald's thing—I think taking kids there is totally lame too...
I was also left staring blankly at the wall recently when I saw the whole school went to see Coca-Cola in theaters (I bet someone got a fat kickback for that one😠)... anyway, my little one was terrified (and she's not even a scaredy-cat), says everyone was screaming in the theater and covering their heads with jackets during the scary parts.... I seriously thought at least one teacher would watch the movie first to know what they were exposing kids to. A lot of kids ended up pretty shaken up...😢

Anthony White8 said:My kid is in first grade, and honestly, the constant grading caught me off guard too$6.75 like, getting a 10 for this or a 5 for that... man, if I didn't just go along with it, I wouldn't know what to do. It's impossible to tell a kid "we can't afford the movies" when everyone else in class is going🤷

And about the McDonald's thing—I think taking kids there is totally lame too...
I was also left staring blankly at the wall recently when I saw the whole school went to see Coca-Cola in theaters (I bet someone got a fat kickback for that one😠)... anyway, my little one was terrified (and she's not even a scaredy-cat), says everyone was screaming in the theater and covering their heads with jackets during the scary parts.... I seriously thought at least one teacher would watch the movie first to know what they were exposing kids to. A lot of kids ended up pretty shaken up...😢

Coca-Cola is actually a book by Ivan kušati that’s part of the required reading list for fourth grade (at least it was back when I was in school). 🤷

I really don't understand why you parents aren't staging a revolt. I'm fairly certain the teachers would get a break too if they didn't have to babysit 30 kids in such an outdated system. We used to get these vague offers as well—the older folks would say "It's impossible," and instead of a two-day trip to Paris (which is a bit much to begin with), we'd end up on a single-day excursion to Yellowstone.

boldfalcon13 said:Coca-Cola is actually a book by Ivan kušati that’s part of the required reading list for fourth grade (at least it was back when I was in school). 🤷

I really don't understand why you parents aren't staging a revolt. I'm fairly certain the teachers would get a break too if they didn't have to babysit 30 kids in such an outdated system. We used to get these vague offers as well—the older folks would say "It's impossible," and instead of a two-day trip to Paris (which is a bit much to begin with), we'd end up on a single-day excursion to Yellowstone.

I had no clue the movie was such a total disaster!
But you just assume that if a teacher is taking a class to the movies or a play, they actually know what they're getting into, right?🤷

Anthony White8 said:I had no clue the movie was such a total disaster!
But you just assume that if a teacher is taking a class to the movies or a play, they actually know what they're getting into, right?🤷

Look, whether something crosses the line into being truly horrific or not is really up for debate... I mean, if you look back, even we used to act like total idiots when we were kids—doing stupid stuff during those "intense" movie scenes just because everyone else was doing it, or maybe just to mock the people who were actually genuinely terrified. It’s cruel, sure, but that’s just how kids are. 🤷 It’s like those moments when people start shouting "Uuuuuu" and "Fuuuuuuj" just because you're about to kiss—you know, that whole awkward scene where everyone is practically counting down the seconds until you finally lean in, all before you've even hit puberty.

I honestly have my doubts that this movie is even scarier than those last few Harry Potter installments—you know, the ones kids obsess over that actually manage to creep me out sometimes, even as an adult. Besides, since it’s part of the required reading list, maybe it’ll actually be easier for them to just sit down and power through the book instead.

boldfalcon13 said:Look, whether something crosses the line into being truly horrific or not is really up for debate... I mean, if you look back, even we used to act like total idiots when we were kids—doing stupid stuff during those "intense" movie scenes just because everyone else was doing it, or maybe just to mock the people who were actually genuinely terrified. It’s cruel, sure, but that’s just how kids are. 🤷 It’s like those moments when people start shouting "Uuuuuu" and "Fuuuuuuj" just because you're about to kiss—you know, that whole awkward scene where everyone is practically counting down the seconds until you finally lean in, all before you've even hit puberty.

I honestly have my doubts that this movie is even scarier than those last few Harry Potter installments—you know, the ones kids obsess over that actually manage to creep me out sometimes, even as an adult. Besides, since it’s part of the required reading list, maybe it’ll actually be easier for them to just sit down and power through the book instead.

Oh, please. My little one told me the whole theater was screaming and she was hiding under her jacket. We're talking first graders here... I've heard from a few moms that their kids were waking up in the middle of the night, and now mine won't even go into her room without the light on. Even our neighbor, who's in fifth grade, said he was pretty spooked... I checked out the trailer on YouTube afterward and yeah, this definitely isn't for little kids....

Anthony White8 said:My kid is in first grade, and honestly, the constant grading caught me off guard too$6.75 like, getting a 10 for this or a 5 for that... man, if I didn't just go along with it, I wouldn't know what to do. It's impossible to tell a kid "we can't afford the movies" when everyone else in class is going🤷

And about the McDonald's thing—I think taking kids there is totally lame too...
I was also left staring blankly at the wall recently when I saw the whole school went to see Coca-Cola in theaters (I bet someone got a fat kickback for that one😠)... anyway, my little one was terrified (and she's not even a scaredy-cat), says everyone was screaming in the theater and covering their heads with jackets during the scary parts.... I seriously thought at least one teacher would watch the movie first to know what they were exposing kids to. A lot of kids ended up pretty shaken up...😢

Just to add to that—when we were in the States, they did this thing where the whole class would go to the cinema to see movies like that. It was basically mandatory $3.25 one ticket per kid. I know for a fact all the elementary kids went, though I can't say for sure about the older ones. There’s a little girl living in my building who’s in first grade, and she was absolutely sobbing because she was so terrified—honestly, half those kids were whining. I can't really judge if the movie itself was actually that intense since I didn't sit through it, but I find it hard to believe it was any good if everyone was that rattled. And let's be real—kids these days watch everything on TV and YouTube; you'd think they'd be desensitized by now.

Coco is at least a movie that actually ties back to what kids are reading in school. I recently caught "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" at the local AMC, and the theater was absolutely packed with elementary schoolers on some field trip with their teacher—probably third or fourth graders. Honestly, the whole plot just feels like a non-stop loop of sex, childbirth, blood, and an anorexic Bella... which is just "perfect" for that age group, right? Or maybe kids these days are just way more advanced than we were. 🤷

Kimberly Robinson2 said:Just to add to that—when we were in the States, they did this thing where the whole class would go to the cinema to see movies like that. It was basically mandatory $3.25 one ticket per kid. I know for a fact all the elementary kids went, though I can't say for sure about the older ones. There’s a little girl living in my building who’s in first grade, and she was absolutely sobbing because she was so terrified—honestly, half those kids were whining. I can't really judge if the movie itself was actually that intense since I didn't sit through it, but I find it hard to believe it was any good if everyone was that rattled. And let's be real—kids these days watch everything on TV and YouTube; you'd think they'd be desensitized by now.

around here, a ticket for that movie was $5.00🙄

and they're all freaked out by some Vincek guy appearing at the window....

oh yeah, my kid actually told me to go watch the movie by myself while she's at her grandma's just so I can see what on earth I sent her into!!!