Any parent with a school-aged child is no stranger to their kid pulling out a new note from a teacher every second day.
But one dad received a note about his son that was so bizarre and hilarious he just had to share.
Paul Hunt posted an image of the note online, with the caption, “This letter, that was sent home from school today, is the funniest thing I’ve ever read.”
“Although this is not a behaviour letter as such, I am writing to inform you of something that has come to our attention and that you may wish to discuss further with [your son],” the letter begins.
It seems Paul’s son and his friends like to play make-believe in the playground, giving each other funny names. Which is totally normal, because they are kids, obviously.
The thing that's not so normal? The names the children are using during playtime.
"It has come to out attention that one of the characters has the name 'Wildo the Dildo'," the note continues.
"This has, I am sure you can understand, raised some concerns with us.
"None of the children said they knew what it meant, but were aware it was an inappropriate word to be using. One of the children said they picked up the word on the playground, so we will be following this up further."
What's worse than notes from teachers? Lunchbox politics.
Fellow Twitter users had some not-so-helpful suggestions for how Paul should respond to the unexpected note.
"Write back and ask what a dildo is," one suggested, while another said, "Enter Wildo into the competition for the London 2017 mascot."
Whatever the outcome, here's hoping Wildo is left out of the next playtime at school.
Top Comments
I'm pretty sure I used dildo as slang for someone being stupid well before I knew it had another meaning. I can just imagine every child in that class now going home to their parents saying "Miss ... asked me today if I knew what a dildo was, do you know?"
Seriously this teacher has too much time on his/her hands to write a letter like this, who cares if the children are using their imaginations at playtime, using words they don't understand. Get on with the job of teaching.
Use of a word like dildo raises a red flag for the possible presence of sexual abuse in children of this age group. Slang words for breasts or genitalia are to be expected, since children of this age should be aware of the physical differences between males and females. A dildo serves no purpose other than a sexual one, as far as I'm aware.
In all likelihood, one of the children was called a 'dildo' by a thoughtless older sibling, and has repeated the word in the playground. There is a chance however, that something more sinister is happening here.
Teachers have mandatory reporting requirements. It is part of their 'job' to be aware of the signs of sexual abuse and to follow up appropriately. In this case, they clearly decided there was not anything that required reporting, but decided to send a letter home to parents to make them aware that the word had entered their child's vocabulary. Thus allowing the parents to get on with their own job of parenting.
Really? You don't think guidance in the use of appropriate language in social settings is worth a teachers' time?