Camp Counselor Warned A Dad About His Daughter’s Behavior, But The Counselor Got More Upset When He Took Her Side
by Matthew Gilligan
Let’s take a moment to give a shout-out to all the smart kiddos out there who know when to stand up for themselves.
This dad has a daughter who fits into that category and he took to Reddit’s “Am I the *******?” page to ask if he was out of line for how he dealt with her camp counselor.
Dig in below and see what you think!
AITA for correcting my daughter’s camp counselor?
“I [35/M] have a daughter [7/F] who has recently been attending an animal-themed summer camp during the day — she’s obsessed with animals so honestly it seemed like a great fit.
I usually drop her off in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon, so I am familiar with her camp counselor/group leader.
Group Leader [30(s)/M] seemed like a chill guy and my kid seems to like him, though today when I picked her up he asked if he could ‘pull us aside to chat.’
That doesn’t sound good.
When I asked what this was about he said that my daughter was very disrespectful to him today, and that he couldn’t have her ‘attitude’ again.
When I asked him what happened he said that they were discussing sea creatures today, and he referred to octopus as a fish, which my daughter corrected him as they are mollusks.
This sounds pretty funny to me.
He tried to tell her that she was wrong, but she politely corrected him again (his own words).
I told him that if she just corrected him politely then I didn’t really understand the problem, but I would speak to her.
He then explained that that octopus were fish, and that my daughter shouldn’t be ‘spreading information she doesn’t understand.’
Well, actually…
I told him that my daughter was correct, octopus are mollusks — even pulled up a bunch of links from Google to show him.
His response was to get angry and tell me that he ‘sees where my daughter gets the attitude from’ and that ‘she was wrong for correcting him, and that [I] was wrong for backing her up and usurping his authority.’
I explain that correcting someone isn’t usurping authority — being corrected is sometimes just a learning experience, one that I’ve experienced often, and that I wasn’t going to reprimand my daughter for trying to ‘politely correct’ him.
He didn’t take that very well.
He told me that I didn’t understand how difficult his job was, and that sometimes he just needed a parent’s support, regardless of ‘their beliefs’ and stormed off.
My daughter asked if she was in trouble and I said no, of course, but I am questioning as to whether I should send her back to this camp given the behavior of her counselor.
That being said, I wondered if I should have just told my daughter that sometimes it’s best to let things go, even if people are wrong.”
Here’s how Reddit users responded.
This reader spoke up.
Another individual said he’s NTA.
This Reddit user weighed in.
Another person shared their thoughts.
And this reader spoke up.
Props to him for having his daughter’s back!
This counselor seems like he needs a different job.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.
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