Mother Asks If She Was Wrong For Traumatizing Kindergartners By Making "Morbid" Family Tree Project For Her Child

"They're appalled that I allowed such a "morbid" report and are saying I traumatized their children."

Filip

• Published in Weird
• August 10, 2023

School homework is an indispensable task in school whose purpose is to develop the child's intellectual side and create healthy habits. However, at times, completing assignments can be really challenging due to various reasons.

A Reddit user explained the difficulties she faced with her daughter's school homework. Her daughter goes to a kindergarten, and she got a task to make a family tree project for school.

The OP immediately recognized this task as inappropriate because their relatives were mostly deceased. She tried to talk to the teacher about the task, but the teacher insisted that everyone had to make it.

The OP explained that she grew up in foster care because her biological family is dead. Her husband had a mother, but she also died.

To make things more complicated and heartbreaking, she lost her husband and son in a car accident. Further, for most of her husband's family, the OP has only information about their birth and death dates.

She also doesn't have photos of most of their family members, but for some of them, she had photos of their headstones, which she took while her husband was still alive. So, for these facts, the OP believed that doing that project would be so morbid, but apparently, she couldn't avoid it.

So, the OP took information and photos she had and made a family tree project for her daughter. However, after her daughter presented the project, the OP faced numerous criticisms from the teacher, the principal, and the other parents.

According to them, the OP made her daughter present a "morbid" family tree. Now, the OP wonders if she was wrong for not lying about her dead relatives.

The OP asks:

The OP explained that their ancestors were mostly dangerous people, and also mostly dead:

The OP tried to avoid the school project, but it was to no avail:

"For most of my family and her paternal family, I literally only have birth date, death date", explained the OP

So, the OP completed the family tree project with information and photos she had:

However, it caused a negative reaction among other parents, the principal, and the teacher who insisted on doing the project:

Now, the OP wonders if she was wrong for not lying that people were alive:

"You warned the teacher"

Hopefully, she did

"The teacher was highly insensitive"

Some people just don’t understand

Not the OP's fault

School homework absolutely plays a role in encouraging a student's intellectual growth and good practices. Yet, it's important to recognize that sometimes, completing assignments can be impossible or even stressful for children.

The OP said she tried to warn the teacher about their family tree project. However, as the teacher did not understand their situation at first, they had to finish it and literally present their dead relatives to the rest of the class.

So, given the information, Redditors supported the OP and told her that she didn't do anything wrong. The teacher should have been more sensitive.

Filip