The 5-year-old daughter to a pride-filled father took to TikTok to defend his child after a teacher complained about her behavior in class.
In the video – which has since amassed five million views at the time of this writing – @YesMikeSaidIt is heard having a conversation with his daughter’s teacher on the phone. The teacher had called to complain about how his daughter was behaving in school but rather than him scolding his daughter, he questioned why he did not dive into what was causing her to misbehave, adding that the teacher should have addressed his daughter directly.
“We call her mom because sometimes that helps to de-escalate her,” the teacher is heard explaining in the video.
Meanwhile, the 5-year-old is heard in the background stating, “That’s not my fault.”
The father, named Mike, then asked the teacher, “What is she saying?”
“She’s saying that’s not my fault,” the teacher replied.
Mike then implored the teacher to discover what may have triggered his daughter.
“Okay, so let’s follow up on that. What is the that’s not my fault? Is anybody engaging with her or talking to her?” he asked.
“That’s why I’m talking to you,” the teacher replied.
Mike, who is listed as an educator on his TikTok page, then began to provide a quick lesson to the teacher about communication skills.
“You want to talk to me. I’m not there. Let’s talk to her. Who’s engaged? All behavior is communication. She’s communicating. Who’s listening to her?” he asked.
He continued: “I don’t need you to talk to me. I need somebody to communicate with her. Because when I get up there, she’s not going to be in trouble with me because I hear and see a lot of ignoring my daughter.”
He then went on to state that his daughter is an “active” and “happy” child, adding that school staff disregarded his child’s feelings in the past.
“We’re not getting to the root issue. She said that it’s not my fault. I don’t hear anyone talking to her,” he said.
“You can’t do it all, Ms. Drake, even though they want to put it all on you. So, who do you have to support you? Who should be talking to my daughter? So, let’s engage in that conversation. Don’t talk to me. Talk to her. Talk to her like she’s your daughter,” he concluded.
Swarms of commenters began to flood the comment section, applauding the proud dad for his courage to stand up to his daughter’s teacher.
“BE YOUR CHILDS VOICE!!! I love this. I needed this and never got it,” one user wrote. “I know I’m going to have my day like this, and this is how I’ll advocate for mine!”
“Sounds like you have the credentials to be teaching your child at home. Good for you!” wrote another.
“You are a superstar dad. A lot of these teachers have prejudice against kids after just one incident or just prejudice in general.”
But others weren’t too happy with the way Mike reacted.
“Thankfully in my 20 yrs of teaching I have NEVER had a parent disrespect me,” wrote one user. “But if I had, I’d hung up and refused to speak with you directly again.”
Mike then took to the comments to defend his actions.
“Education and community awareness is key,” Mike wrote. “You have to be able to spot when they have plans for your children for their benefit and not your families.”
