The Princess of Preschool
My daughter, Lily, had just started
kindergarten when I got a notification from
the class group chat:
[Hi everyone, I’m Sarah Miller, and my
daughter, Tiffany, just transferred here today.]
The chat lit up with a string of “Welcomes!”
and “Hellos!” Just as I was about to type out
my own greeting, a huge block of text
appeared.
[Important Notice from Tiffany’s Mom:
“Girls in the class, please take note: Starting
next week, I’ll be posting a picture of what my daughter is wearing each day, please make
sure your child doesn’t wear the same thing.
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sure your chia doesnt wear the same thing.
“Also, I request that everyone please switch to the same brand of laundry detergent we use, my daughter has a very sensitive nose and can’t tolerate other scents.
“Finally, my daughter was a C–section baby and is a bit timid, so I ask you to tell your children not to bully her and make sure she’s always treated with priority.“]
Wow. I couldn’t help but think, “This isn’t just a new student; this is a royal princess who’s slumming it with us commoners!”
1
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YYILI I
Some of the moms in the chat were quick to
push back.
Karen’s Mom: “Are you serious? What my kid
wears is none of your business. Why should
we have to cater to you?”
Jessica’s Mom: “Exactly! And we’re supposed
to all use your detergent? My son has
allergies too, and we use specific stuff.”
“Yeah, who made your kid the queen of the
class? My kid is special too!”
The chat quickly devolved into a debate.
Usually, I just chuckled at the ridiculous.
things these parents said in the groun obot
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things these parents said in the group chat.
The class teacher was the administrator, and
she’d usually step in to calm things down. I
didn’t see a problem, so I just muted the chat
to get some work done.
Then I got a DM. It was from Melissa, whose
daughter, Emily, was friends with Lily: “Hey,
Sarah, you gotta check the chat. It’s about
Lily.”
I opened the group chat and saw a photo. It
was clearly taken sneakily, and it was of my
daughter, Lily. I was about to ask what was
going on, when a huge paragraph appeared:
[“My daughter wore her diamond hair clips to
school the other day and they went missing
when I picked her up. I mean it’s no big deal,
we can afford them, but today I saw them in
く
aaugnter, Lily. I was about to ask what was
going on, when a huge paragraph appeared:
[“My daughter wore her diamond hair clips to school the other day and they went missing when I picked her up. I mean it’s no big deal, we can afford them, but today I saw them in Lily’s hair. Lily’s mom, you need to explain yourself.“] She tagged me in the message.
My blood ran cold. “Explain myself?” What she meant was “Lily stole them.”
I usually try to be reasonable, but when it comes to my daughter, I’m not messing
around.
