Here in America, the closest thing to bilingual that many of us will get is the four years of Spanish we took in high school.

But even then, the extent of what we actually remember from our years of Spanish? Cómo se diceeeee….. No mucha.

So when someone actually is bilingual? They might as well be a superhero to us here in the States!

But despite that, this user’s kindergarten-age son was still chastised for speaking in another language to another student, with even the teacher telling him he needed to speak in English at all times!

Was OP in the wrong for pushing back against the teacher’s ignorance? See for yourself!

AITA for defending my son for using a different language when he was upset during an argument at kindergarten?

I (36F) have been married to my wonderful wife (Anna – 35F) for the past 10 years. We have a 5 year old son, Liam.

Anna and I both work during the day so Liam spends the time until one of us can pick him up at his kindergarten.

The other day, Liam’s teacher called and said they would appreciate if we both were available when we picked him up, because he had been in an argument and they wanted to talk to us.

Initially I was worried so I moved a few of my meetings and called my wife. We both went to pick him up.

But OP could never have expected the reason behind her son’s argument!

The whole issue was he had gotten in an argument with a girl over the rules of a game they were playing.

The teacher said as he got angry, he started speaking in a different language, and no one could understand what he was on about.

The other kid’s parents said it was offensive to speak in a way that no one understood and we should have taught him better.

OP explained that the reason for her son’s linguistic skill was her and her wife’s heritage…

Now, I am a Greek woman, my wife is French. We live in an English-speaking country. While Liam can certainly speak English, he occasionally uses Greek and French.

Both Anna and I learned each other’s languages so our household is a mix of all three at different times.

He picked up on both of them and can speak them more or less.

And she said if anything, his trilingualism was a testament to how well they raised him!

I said we have clearly taught him well since he has been able to speak in other languages fluently this whole time but only slipped when he was frustrated during an argument.

I said it was in no way offensive, that it was human reaction, and that Liam would surely get it under his full control over time but he is FIVE, so maybe we all should take a deep breath.

The other kid’s parents were extremely mad saying their daughter was so upset she cried after the argument.

They insisted Liam had to apologize about making her feel this frustration via using another language.

When OP’s wife backed her up, the teacher actually had the nerve to side with the other parents!

My wife answered them with the same overall point as I did but they didn’t back down. Even the teacher said we had to work on Liam not making this a recurring theme which is fair.

After the meeting was over and we were going to drive away, the other kid’s dad made a comment along the lines of:

‘You’re all arrogant rich people driving cars like this and thinking whatever you’re doing is right.’ In front of the kids.

I got really mad and said I hope you’re a better parent than what I’m guessing you are.

But the interaction had OP wondering if maybe they had overreacted to the whole situation…

After we went home, Anna and I did tell Liam to not speak to other people in a language they don’t understand.

Later we talked among ourselves and wondered if we really did escalate the whole argument even more.

I am asking on behalf of both us. Were we TA?

So let me get this straight, OP’s son can speak 3 different language before he’s even old enough to write in them, and the teacher is saying that’s a bad thing? This kid sounds like a genius!

Reddit was shocked at the teacher’s ignorance, and remarked on how common it is for someone to switch languages when they’re upset!

This user said the teacher could have used OP’s son’s language skills to have a teaching moment with the other student.

And many said that knowing more than one language was something to be impressed by, not annoyed!

Finally, this user said that while OP’s son was basically a linguistic prodigy in America, his grasp of multiple languages was run of the mill for kids around the world!

If your brat wants to know what mine said so bad, then teach them yourself!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.