Being a parent can be a hell of a task. Picture this: you're driving your kid to school with a half-made avocado toast dripping onto your lap while rehearsing an excuse for being late to work again. Been there? Done that? If there's one thing we can be sure about, it's that as a parent, you constantly live on the edge. There are multiple ways in which you can get parental burnout, like just good old overreacting or being a jerk parent for not letting your kid eat dad’s deodorant. This mom got so worn out that she exploded at everyone in school for calling her kid Andy instead of Andrew. Subreddit r/insaneparents is ready to give her the badge for "Most Dramatic Mom Ever." Bored Panda spoke to a school teacher and language expert Liz to get her views on Andy‘s situation.
It's time to face it. Sometimes your kids know what’s best for them and you've got to respect that. Andrew has never objected to being called Andy and even (!) introduces himself as Andy. The translation of his behavior is very straightforward - Andy simply likes being called this way. Another solution is to stop for a moment and listen to what the people around you have to say. When you say, “My husband feels like I’m overreacting…”, well, maybe it's because you really are. So will the real Andy please stand up? No, Mom, sit down. You've got better things to care about.
Bored Panda spoke to a dedicated school teacher and language expert based in Vilnius to get her views on Andy‘s situation. “The mom is, in fact, making things worse. When parents intervene in their kids' lives too much, they get distanced from the school community. If the child truly feels okay and isn't lying (due to kids' youthful attitude, it's sometimes hard to tell whether they're lying or telling the truth), then there's no problem. My advice for the mom would be to sort out her personal issues."
"Kids get nicknamed at school quite often. Usually, it's not harmful and sometimes it's simply cool to have a nickname. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens that some kids start insulting others even after the victim has asked them to stop. If our staff members notice situations like these in the canteen or the corridor, we react immediately and all the relevant anti-bullying measures are deployed."
"In this particular case, I would not call 'Andy' a nickname - it's just a short version of 'Andrew'. I had the same thing when I was little and everyone at school called me by a short version of my original name - Liz and not Elizabeth."
Let’s have a look at what people had to say about it:
