Teacher shares red flag that shows child will be difficult – it’s not their behavior

A teacher has gone viral after sharing the one red flag she looks out for at the beginning of the school year which often leads to a behavior problem with a student

A teacher has shared a warning sign that she believes indicates a pupil may be difficult to manage throughout the academic year. Ashlyn Cooke, an Alabama-based teacher, urges parents to heed her insight to better “hold their children accountable.”

The red flag, she claims, is unrelated to the child’s actual behavior; it centers on parents who consistently leap to their offspring’s defense at every misstep and target the educator whenever problems come up.

In her widely shared TikTok post, Ashlyn said: “Parents, I am begging you to listen to me. There is one thing that signals to me that your child is going to be a behavior problem in my class for the entire year.”

The 30-year-old went on to clarify: “You are hurting your child by not making them take any responsibility. If that goal of creating a good person is not mutual between the teacher and the parent of the child, there’s only so much teachers can do.”

She emphasizes the significance of her message in the video’s description, writing: “I promise I am only saying this because I care! Hold your children accountable!”

Elaborating on her remarks in the video, which has garnered over 650,000 views, Ashlyn acknowledges the natural instinct of parents to defend their children and anticipates that disciplinary actions may be met with curiosity. However, she added: “When you start with, ‘Well, my child would never do that,’ and you start attacking me – you are doing your child a disservice.”

In an interview with TODAY.com, the educator further said: “You are teaching your child to disregard authority.”

Dr. Deborah Gilboa, an expert in parenting and youth development, wholeheartedly concurs with Ashlyn’s views, stating: “When we attack people who suggest that (our children) might have done something wrong, we teach them that if they are uncomfortable or unhappy, it’s always someone else’s fault.

“Parents need to model listening to others’ perspectives. If we can’t do that, they will never learn to do it for themselves, and they’ll lose friends and opportunities.”