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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/20160314 on 2023-09-22 03:20:57.
Wife and I (40s) have 3 kids, Alice (12F), Bobby (10M), and Claire (8F), just started grades 7, 5 and 3, all same school.
Last month, Bobby's grade 5 teacher started a parent WhatsApp group.
A week before school started, teacher posted into the WhatsApp group... apparently, one of the kids in the class had had head lice. No big deal, it's been treated and cured. Kid caught it at summer camp.
Someone in the WhatsApp said "Sometimes the treatment for head lice includes cutting one's hair really short. What if the whole class cuts their hair really short? Then no one will know or care who had the head lice".
Parents chimed in: What a great idea, we should totally do that.
One parent to agree with that opinion was a dad whose son David is in Bobby's class, and also whose daughter Emily is in Claire's class.
Talked to Bobby about it and he agreed, so 2 days before school started, we got him a military buzz cut. Actually looks good!
On the first day of school, exactly 2 kids in the class showed up with short hair... our son Bobby, and David.
What a bunch of AH parents was one of my first thoughts.
My wife takes the kids to school, and mentioned to me over the weekend the strange looks and scowls she encountered.
Then, over the weekend, I learned that David's dad had told a few of people that obviously it was Bobby who'd had head lice.
David had been to summer camp, as had his little sister Emily, and both showed up at school with short hair.
Knowing this, I messaged David's father asking him why the hell he'd spread false rumours like that, especially knowing it was his own son.
It wasn't a pleasant discussion. He denied he'd said it, then admitted it but said David didn't have lice, but then admitted in fact David did, but he had been treated and it was all ok and what's the big deal.
The big deal is that you've made my son the target of bullying with your bullshit lies.
He made stupid evasive excuses, David is a sensitive kid and was already feeling very down, sorry, but that's how it is.
Great, so throw my kid under the bus? And make my wife and I look like shitty parents who can't keep their kids clean? (Btw, head lice can happen to anyone. It has little to do with hygiene)
I told him... what you did is awful, and you need to come clean, and tell everyone.
He said he would... and didn't. Then, prodded again, he said he would... and didn't. Yesterday, I told him... if you don't post something about this by tonight, I will.
So, now it's tonight. I have the WhatsApp message ready to go. It's a work of art, with screenshots and everything. It makes it clear David's dad was spreading lies.
I'm ready to pull the trigger, but am curious what you all think.