When people leave their children under the care of teachers and caregivers, their safety and well-being is always on their minds.
Most of the time, parents truly have nothing to worry about, as they know their children are in good, safe hands.
Even so, many times a parent will return home, or pick their child up learning that the one responsible for watching their children broke their trust.
For which there are always consequences.
Redditor Real-Point-6474 had their son enrolled in daycare.
When the original poster (OP) picked their son up one day, they were dismayed to discover something their son’s teacher did.
After bringing this to the attention of the Daycare’s administration, the teacher ended up losing her job.
Feeling somewhat bad about this outcome, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole Here” (AITAH).
Unlike the similar “Am I The A**Hole” (AITA) subReddit, AITAH allows Redditors to ask for advice on issues that are not permitted on AITA, such as asking for advice or posting about ending relationships. Nor are voting acronyms required or a final judgment declared.
The OP asked fellow Redditors:
“AITAH for getting a woman fired over VeggieTales?”
The OP explained how they were semi-responsible for getting their son’s daycare teacher fired:
“My wife and I unfortunately have our son in daycare.”
“It’s unavoidable.”
“A few months ago I picked him up, and when I asked him about his day he told me about a show they watched with cartoon vegetables.”
“Hmmmm.”
“When I dropped him off the next day I asked the teacher if they watched veggie tales.”
“She said they didn’t show the kids anything inappropriate.”
“I asked but did they watch veggie tales.”
“She refused to give me a straight answer.”
“I said I don’t want him to watch veggie tales.”
“She said he wasn’t going to be allowed to watch anything inappropriate.”
“That day when I got home I asked, did you watch veggie tales?”
“He did.”
“I emailed the administration.”
“They assured me, no veggie tales.”
“It is not an approved media to show the kids. It has never and will never be shown.”
“The next week I asked, did you watch VeggieTales?”
“Yep.”
“I reach out again and am told maybe my son is confused.”
“Right.”
“So I wait a week, ask my boss if I can leave early, walk past the receptionist (she told me to stop, but I didn’t) into the main room, and boom, there it is.”
“Veggie. Tales.”
“I took a picture.”
“I was given a warning for barging in (fair), but the administration promised the veggie tales thing would be solved.”
“The teacher had to take all the tapes home, and she would not be able to bring in tapes ever again.”
“Next week: did you watch VeggieTales?”
“No, dad.”
“Great.”
“Following week: did you watch VeggieTales?”
“Yep!”
“So I email again.”
“At this point I start getting other people involved.”
“The anti-VeggieTales coalition.”
“Even some of the Christian parents were annoyed.”
“One woman watches it at home with her daughter and said she didn’t want it watched at daycare because if her daughter has questions she wants to be asked, not the teacher.”
“Great, join the anti-VeggieTales coalition.”
“The resolution was that teacher got fired.”
“Now there’s a backlash against me.”
“People feel bad.”
“They feel guilty.”
“It’s all my fault.”
“I pressured them into making it a big deal.”
“They’re just animated vegetables.”
“Even my wife said I pulled a ‘me’ and went on the warpath.”
“Am I an a**hole, or should she have just left her animated vegetables at home?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in, with some using the voting acronyms:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The Reddit community agreed that the OP was not the a**hole for getting their son’s daycare teacher fired.
Everyone agreed that the OP wasn’t the reason the teacher got fired, but rather the fact that she disobeyed rules and orders multiple times by showing VeggieTales, which was definitely grounds for termination:
“NTA.”
“They said your child wasn’t watching VeggieTales but the teacher showed it numerous times after you were told it wasn’t being shown.”
“If they would lie about that what else are they lying about?”- Charming-Entrance345
“The fact that the teacher repeatedly lied to your face about what they’re showing your kid is enough reason to get fired.”
“Don’t lie to the parents.”
“NTA.”- No-Forever2274
“Aside from the argument about veggie tales, she was lying to parents about stuff involving their kids. Unacceptable.”
“NTA.”- Interesting_Rub9393
“NTA.”
“IMHO, they lied.”
“Full stop.”
“Anyone who gives you grief just explain that they are teaching our kids to lie and not follow rules.”
“This isn’t a VeggieTales issue.”
“This is a core belief issue.”
“Folks who push back at lying reveal their core beliefs.”- Odd-Resource3025
“NTA.”
“I grew up Christian and with VeggieTales.”
“I’m no longer religious but do have a soft spot for the show (‘Oh wheeeeeeeeere is my hairbrush!’”)”
“That being said, it’s a hard no to have such small children watch religious material without parents explicit consent.”
“Then to follow up with the sin of lying about it, just goes to show they knew they were in the wrong.”- reddot_comic
“You didn’t get her fired, her own actions did.”
“If she needed to show videos Numberblocks and WordWorld and PBS Kids all exist for free on YouTube.”
“NTA.”- throwaway1975764
“NTA the fact the teacher lied to you means she knows what she was doing was against the rules.”
“Veggies Tales is pushing religion onto kids.”
“I’d be upset too.”- CatsMom4Ever
“NTA.”
“She would still have her job if she stopped showing veggie tales.”
“It’s really not that hard.”- mallionaire7
“You didn’t get that teacher fired, she got herself fired.”- dystopiadattopia
“NTA.”
“If for nothing else the school had a policy and the teacher repeatedly violated it.”-Healthy_Candle_4545
“NTA.”
“Your children were shown religious content in violation of the school’s policy.”
“Strike 1.”
“When questioned the teacher lied about it.”
“Strike 2.”
“The school attempted to cover it up.”
“Strike 3.”
“I’d have reported this to licensing.”
“This isn’t about Veggie Tales, it’s about your ability to trust your child’s caregivers.”- Beautiful-Rent6691
“I don’t have any problem with VeggieTales even as a non-Christian.”
“Most of that stuff is pretty wholesome.”
“HOWEVER the only reason I can think of where a daycare worker or educator would INSIST on showing that in a professional space where it is banned, secretly, despite parents complaints and orders from supervisors not to, is if it was part of a larger agenda to evangelize children.”
“And THAT is worthy of being fired for.”
“Even Christian parents I imagine would not want some random lady telling their young kids who-knows-what about their religion behind closed doors, without their knowledge or ability to help their kid process it.”- Automatic-Sky-3928
“Huh.”
“I’d heard the term, ‘Veggie Tales’, but had no idea what it is other than cartoons.”
“Interesting.”
“NTA.”
“Since she (they) were cagey about it, she (they) knew they shouldn’t have done it.”
“And clearly deliberate.”- PinkPrincess61
“NTA.”
“After you said no to something for your child it shouldn’t have been an issue.”
“They lied to your face and your FORCED to find out on your own while they continued to lie to your face.”
“Absolutely NTA .”- No_Fig2467
“NTA.”
“I’d be annoyed that my kids were watching TV in daycare of any kind much less religious based shows.”
“I’d be LIVID if the daycare then lied to me about it.”- Aromatic-Rule-5679
“NTA.”
“Lying about having kids watch a christian show while knowing its against the rules is straight up indoctrination.”
“She’s pushing religion onto them, what if one of them is Muslim?”
“One is pagan?”
“One doesn’t know but now is confused about everything and now the parents have to explain something that either A. They arent ready to explain because kids come up with crazy questions or B. Theyre an entirely different religion and now the child is confused on what religion to believe.”-Necessary-Lion-5263
“If she hadn’t kept doing it after being warned and lied to parents, but she did so NTA.”-LolliPopYouInTheEye
“NTA.”
“I would riot if someone was lying about trying to indoctrinate my kids into their weird sacrifice and discipline cult.”- TheRoadkillRapunzel
“Why are they watching videos at all in daycare on a regular basis let alone propaganda?”-Sparklingwine23
“Why is your daycare watching any tv?”- Ok-Equivalent8260
“NTA.”
“She got herself fired for showing VeggieTales after repeatedly being told by the administration to stop.”- dumbsugarplumb
“Ugh it also bothers me that there is even screen time at your child’s daycare.”-youknowwhoisincharge
Had it not been for the OP, there is a chance that the teacher might still have her job.
Even so, the OP had every right to express their discomfort and dissatisfaction with this teacher’s decisions.
It’s also a teacher’s job to teach honesty and trustworthiness to their students.
As this teacher did neither of those things, one can only wonder if they were suited to being a teacher.