AITA for telling the principal that his punishment was dumb and taking my daughter out for a fun day instead

A mom took her 7-year-old daughter out of school for a fun day after the school punished her for running out of class to avoid vomiting inside. The principal banned the girl from attending a field trip, and when the mom argued it was unfair, the principal stood firm. To make up for the missed field trip, the mom took her daughter to an amusement park and other fun activities. The girl’s dad later criticized the mom for undermining the school’s authority. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for telling the principal that his punishment was dumb and taking my daughter out for a fun day instead’

This happened last year before the world fell apart, just asking out of boredom. My daughter was in second grade. She was in class and suddenly felt like she was going to vomit so she tried to run to the bathroom. She didn’t make it and vomited in the hallway.

However she was sent to the office for running out of class without permission. The principal called me about this and I had to come in. He told me that she was being punished and was losing her privileges to go on the field trip the next week.

I told him that was insane considering she did it because she was trying to keep from making a mess and she’s 7! She made a snap judgement that I think most people would make. On top of that, they sent her to the principal instead of the nurse.

He refused to change the decision so I took my daughter out of school for the last 2 days of the week. Since she was missing the field trip I wanted her to have as much fun as possible so we went to an amusement park, the movies, and to paint pottery. She told her father about this during his visitation time and he got very angry at me for undermining the principal. AITA?

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

NotEvenSureLOLcry −  They sent a 7 yo to the principal for puking instead of the nurse and then doubled down when you called them out on their lunacy?. Hell no, OP. You are NTA.

borgcubecubed −  NTA. You’ve just taught her that you’ll have her back when someone mistreats her. That’s a lesson that she’ll remember and when she needs help she’ll come to you. You’re a great mom!

Elyon113 −  NTA holy s**t I would be speaking to the school board about a principal that’s such a BLATANT s**iopath. Holy f**king s**t I would have LOST IT on that fuckwad. You’re a great dad

[Reddit User] −  NTA. Punishing a child for trying to make it to a bathroom before barfing is ridiculous.

occamsrazor2020 −  NTA. And I’d even file a complaint with the school board about her school ignoring your daughter’s health issue and punishing her instead.

LunaMay196 −  NTA. You backed your daughter for doing the right thing. She tried getting to a bathroom when she was sick. Its not like she had time to ask permission to be sick.

Sending her to the principal not the nurse was already bad but not letting her go on a trip because of it? Absurd. Your daughter will remember you backed her up, you were a great parent. Hats off to you.

DokiDoki_Killme −  NTA. Sometimes schools care more about keeping kids inline instead of their wellbeing and development. The fact that she didn’t at least get sent to the nurse’s office for throwing up is really telling of that.

emmmmme_in_wien −  NTA no one should be punishing a child for feeling ill. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of educators who dismiss the needs of students, or just think they’re faking.

When I was in Kindergarten, I was sent back and forth between my classroom and the nurse’s office multiple times before they finally called my mom because I wouldn’t stop complaining (and maybe crying). We later found out I had broken my wrist on the playground during recess, but the nurse didn’t believe anything was wrong, so she kept sending me back to class.

Failure67 −  NTA – It was either run out or “Miss/Sir! I need to go to the– bleurgh!” 🤮 Plus, if she’d thrown up in class, I’m fairly certain it would’ve caused a lot more puke than just hers then they’d be more annoyed.

mornis −  NTA – you’re right, most people would take the same action as your daughter. In his defense, the principal is apparently only 6 years old, so he hasn’t developed the same level of judgement as your daughter yet.

When should parents support school policies, and when should they stand their ground? Was this mom right to take her daughter out for a fun day after a seemingly harsh punishment? Share your thoughts below!