In my opinion, special treatment is different from compassion and kindness.
Special treatment favors one person over the rest, while kindness is being considerate of the circumstances no matter who they are.
In the story below, this OP refuses to do a favor requested by her daughter, believing that this is a form of special treatment.
But online users think otherwise. How about you? What do you think?
AITA for not giving my daughter special treatment?
I am a first grade teacher.
My daughter, 21f, is a nanny to a little boy (6) in my class.
I made sure she knew from the start that the boy she takes care of will not be getting any special treatment from me.
If there’s a problem, OP would tell the boy’s parents, instead of her daughter.
We’ve gotten into arguments about this before, because I make the office call his parents, who then call her, instead of texting her directly when there is a problem.
This, apparently, caused him to miss lunch one day (he skipped music to eat later in the day).
OP keeps saying no to her daughter’s request.
The other day, my daughter came home and said the boy forgot his homework in her car and asked if I could take it to work with me, so he wouldn’t get in trouble for not turning in his work.
I told her no.
She’ll have to drop it off at the school like everyone else, and she started yelling at me that the school is 15 miles away (her school is only 3 miles from my work), and that she’ll have to leave the house 2 hours early to get the work to him in time.
Is she being heartless?
I reminded her that I told her this boy won’t be getting special treatment just because she’s his nanny, but she thinks I’m being heartless just to spite her and the kid.
AITA?
Let’s find out what other users have to say.
This user thinks OP is being inconsiderate.
Why deny help, asks this user.
A fellow teacher speaks up.
And here’s one from a parent.
And finally, this one says OP is being pedantic.
It’s not a question of whether you’re giving him special treatment or not.
It’s more about you being petty and inconsiderate.
If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.