'Take Her Down a Peg': Dad Backed for Heated Exchange With Son's Teacher

Members of a popular internet forum showed support for one father who detailed the explosive confrontation he had with his son's teacher regarding an upcoming birthday party.

In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITheA**hole, Redditor u/AITAFOTEACHER (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said he received a contentious phone call from his 6-year-old's elementary school instructor and revealed the choice words he used to end the conversation.

Titled, "[Am I the a**hole] for telling my son's teacher to f**k off when she tried to force me to invite 24 kids to his birthday party?" the viral post has received nearly 8,000 votes and 1,800 comments in the last day.

Beginning by writing that he and and his wife are planning a birthday party for their son, the original poster said the teacher took exception to the fact that only a handful of the boy's classmates were invited.

"She tells me that she understands he is having a birthday party and that he invited a few of his friends from class, but not everyone," he wrote. "She then tells me that there is a rule that if any kids in the class are invited, [then] all the kids in the class are invited."

"I told her it is an event off school hours on private property in my home," he continued.

Despite the insistence that his son's celebration was unaffiliated with the school, and therefore outside of the teacher's metaphoric jurisdiction, the original poster said the argument pressed on.

"I pointed out to her that there are 24 kids in the class," he wrote. "If their parents attend the party with them then that can be upwards of 72 people and I told her that's just not a reasonable thing to ask."

"I then told her [my son] is only under her supervision while he was in class...and she doesn't get to make the rules for my house or me," he wrote. "She...said if it involves her class, she does."

After an extended back and forth, the original poster said he "lost [his] cool" and delivered a pointed message to his son's teacher.

"I said, 'Lady, it's pretty clear that you're too used to bossing around kids who have to listen to you and that you don't seem to understand that your little fiefdom ends at the end of the school day...If you think you're the one to make the rules for me, in my home on which I pay the mortgage, you can go f*** yourself and there isn't a goddamn thing you can do about it,'" he wrote.

For people of all ages, birthday parties can serve as sources of intense drama.

In February, Newsweek reported on one outraged mother who was forced to spend $34 just to attend a party thrown for one of her child's friends at an indoor rock climbing center.

In March, one birthday celebration became the center of attention when one teen's rude text messages uninviting a friend from the gathering went viral on Reddit.

And just last week, one Kentucky employee won a $450,000 lawsuit after an unwanted, surprise office birthday party triggered multiple panic attacks and subsequently led to his firing.

For younger children, birthday parties and the invitation process can lead to both feelings of jubilation and exclusion.

On multiple occasions, parenting publication Parents has addressed situations similar to the one laid out in the viral Reddit post and recommends that parents communicate directly in order to avoid any awkwardness or tension.

However, throughout the comment section of the viral post, Redditors responding to u/AITAFOTEACHER agreed that, despite the possibility of hurt feelings among classmates, the teacher in question was wrong to try to dictate the terms of a gathering outside of school hours.

"The only way you'd have been out of line would be if you let him hand out invitations during class time," Redditor u/Alibeee64 wrote in the post's top comment, which has received more than 13,000 votes.

"Ask for a meeting between the school administrator and this teacher...Apologize for losing your temper and your language...and ask the administrator if this is school policy," they continued. "I'm guessing it's not, and this teacher is way out of line with this request."

Redditor u/codefyre, whose comment has receive more than 1,500 comments, said that the original poster made it clear that he would not be inviting 24 children to his home and that the teacher was at fault for expecting him to accommodate each of his son's classmates.

"You declined her request, which was your right to do," they wrote. "Instead of accepting that, she argued with you. She had the opportunity to end the discussion politely, chose to keep pursuing it, and tried to force the issue."

"Some people won't take no for an answer until you get more forceful with it," they added. "That's on her."

In a separate comment, which has received nearly 3,000 votes, Redditor u/BlueMoon5K echoed that sentiment.

"[Not the a**hole]," they wrote. "Several different ways were used to politely tell her no. She seems to have gotten the message with profanity."

Newsweek reached out to u/AITAFOTEACHER for comment.