Daycare director puts entitled helicopter parents in their place, awarding their 4-year-old Brody the same participation trophy as every other kid: 'You're telling me my son gets the same thing as the kid who picked his nose the whole time?'

Every parent thinks their kid is the star of the show.

However, a line of entitlement is crossed when parental pride mutates into demands. A pair of helicopter parents at this daycare were known to be overly involved in their 4-year-old's activities in preschool. Still, when the springtime play rewarded every kid with a participation trophy afterwards, these parents freaked out. Their kid apparently deserved greater accolades than the other kids because he "prepared" beforehand. 

Apparently, the production value of this daycare's concert for babies wasn't good enough for their standards.

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  • Preschool teacher helping the kids at daycare.
    via Fatcamera

    Preschool teacher helping the kids at daycare.

    (Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)

  • Parental pride goes a long way. Even when your kid isn't the most talented being on earth, a parent still believes that they're the gravity that makes the world go around. However, if you've ever been to a child's play or any sort of stage production put on by teachers where kids sing, dance, or play instruments, it's usually pretty clear that there aren't any prodigies on stage. Before they're 5 years old, kids are more concerned with playtime, snacks, and butterfly chasing than they are peak musical performance. 

    But regardless of how tone deaf the kids seem, parents will still be beaming out in the audience, proud of their child, no matter what. But as any teacher, principal, or daycare director knows, it's oftentimes the parents who need the most TLC, proving to be more immature and adolescent than the students themselves. 

  • The parents at my daycare pulled something so unhinged I still can't believe it happened in front of everyone

    I work at a small private daycare and we have this one kid, let's call him Brody, he's four years old and honestly one of the sweetest kids in my group. His parents
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • though are a whole different story and I've been biting my tongue for months but last week they finally did something so completely over the line
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • completely over the line that I have to talk about it somewhere. Brody's mom has always been the type to hover. She would show up twenty minutes before
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • pickup and just stand outside the glass door watching us, which is fine technically, but she'd also send four or five messages
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • a day asking if Brody ate his snack, if he napped, if anyone touched him wrong, if we washed his specific cup the specific way she showed us.
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • Normal concern taken to a completley different level. But her husband is somehow worse. Two weeks ago we had a little spring showcase, just kids
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • Daycare director helping the kids put on a small singing concert for their parents.
    via South_agency

    Daycare director is helping the kids put on a small singing concert for their parents. 

    (Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)

  • singing a few songs and doing a craft for the parents. Nothing big. Every single kid got a small ribbon just for participating, same ribbon, same color, just a
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • little keepsake. After it was over dad walked straight up to our director and said loudly, in front of like eight other families,
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • that Brody should have. gotten a different ribbon because he was "clearly the most engaged" and the other kids were "just standing there." The
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • director explained it was just a participation token for every child and dad actually said "so you're telling me my son gets the same thing as the kid who picked his nose the whole time?" Out loud. In front
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • Parents angrily leaving a preschool.
    via MariaBorova

    Parents angrily leaving a preschool. 

    (Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)

  • of everyone. Including the mom of the nose picking kid who was standing literally two feet away. That mom looked like she wanted to dissolve into the floor and I felt so bad
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • for her. mom then jumped in and said the showcase was "poorly organized" and that Brody had been practicing his song at home for two weeks and
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • deserved recongnition beyond what the "other kids who clearly didn't prepare" got. The director stayed calm but I coud see it in her face. After they left three other
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • parents came up to her just to apologize on their behalf which honestly says everything. I don't know how much longer I can watch this without
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • saying something to someone because Brody is going to grow up thinking this is how the world works and that genuinely worries me more than anything his parents do to us.
    via 9WitcherCoda

  • As if it's not already super out-of-pocket to bag on a 4-year-old as a grown man, this dad trashed another kid's character in an attempt to get his own kid rewarded. Even if Brody was singing his heart out like Bruno Mars on stage, it didn't matter to the daycare director. Everyone got the same little token of appreciation, and that was that. Participation trophies aside, this dad was more furious that his kid wasn't getting greater recognition than the others. 

    He just wanted his kid to have proof that he was better than everyone else. 

  • As understandably frustrating as it is to see a child whom you think is the sun, moon, and stars get recognized just like any other kid, this interaction was hopefully a wake-up call for Brody's helicopter parents. Not every disgruntled demand can be met with compliance. Sometimes life is frustrating or disappointing and it's not always up to us to decide what kind of trophies we receive… Participation or otherwise.

  • Hamsternoir Picking your nose AND singing, that's some quality multitasking.
    via Hamsternoir
  • That kid should have got a shiny sticker as well as the ribbon. Brody clearly lacks the skills to focus on more than one task at a time and for that we can only blame the parents.
    via Hamsternoir
  • 9WitcherCoda OP The kid's multitasking was kinda impressive. Still, dunking on him out loud was rough. Brody didn't need a gold star, just manners from Dad.
    via 9WitcherCoda
  • 7Gotham Nimbus Dad trashing a 4yo in public is peak small-man behavior. Glad your director kept it calm.
    via 7Gotham Nimbus
  • njoinglifnow And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how you grow entitled adults.
    via njoinglifnow
  • velouriya parents like this are the reason teachers are quitting in literal droves.
    via velouriya
  • daycares should be allowed to fire parents. period. once the parents start making the staff miserable they gotta go.
    via velouriya
  • no amount of tuition is worth that kind of toxicity in a space meant for literal children. they're gonna turn brody into a nightmare by kindergarten if they dont chill
    via velouriya

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