15 of the wildest things parents have seen shared in their school WhatsApp groups

As if there weren’t already enough demands on parents’ time and emotional reserves, they must also contend with the dreaded WhatsApp groups of others people connected to their children’s schools.

This week, writer and journalist Séamas O’Reilly – he of the infamous “meeting the Irish president while high on ketamine” viral Twitter story from a few years back – shared a story about a friend’s school WhatsApp group being consumed by a week-long debate over whether Elf on the Shelf constitutes surveillance culture.

A friend’s just told me his kids’ school WhatsApp spent Christmas embroiled in a week-long debate over whether Elf on the Shelf constitutes surveillance culture.

So PARENTS, I’m asking: what’s the wildest, weirdest or worst you’ve experienced in the dreaded groupchat?

— The author, Séamas O’Reilly (@shockproofbeats) January 7, 2025

Séamas then asked parents for their own memorable tales from the WhatsApp groups. And boy, did people have some tales to tell outside of school…

1.

Our estate chat had one who wanted to know about “Ice Cream man law” as he came to the estate twice in one day and her kids were freaking out.

— Andy McCarroll (@Andymc1983) January 7, 2025

2.

Parents posted that their sons school called to say he was absent- had anyone seen them? About twenty different photos of him circling the gobnascale estate on his scooter followed . can only assume he was murdered for dobbing.

— ciaran flanagan (@freebirdswing) January 7, 2025

3.

Someone posted asking had anyone’s kid lost a pair of toy handcuffs and a dad messaged ‘lol might borrow them for the weekend.’

A full three days of silence. I think children went uncollected, events were missed, it was frosty.

— Dave Rudden (@d_ruddenwrites) January 7, 2025

4.

I like to be the one that posts screengrabs from Snopes in response to doctored photos of ie razor blades stuck to local slides. Never goes down well. And yet I persist!

— Eva Wiseman (@EvaWiseman) January 7, 2025

5.

My friend (20 at the time) was mistakenly added to a parents’ group. He tried to leave, they added him again. They were talking about bringing something to offer in some religious ceremony and he replied saying ‘my child will bring his warm and beating heart on a silver tray’

— Lara Wijesuriya (@LaraWijesuriya) January 9, 2025

6.

The worst was when X forgot his homework journal and his mother reached out to the group to ask for the details. I can’t imagine that has happened in any other groups.

— Derek Finnegan (@Finaldo) January 7, 2025

7.

Mid-2020 Islington nursery group chat worried that the soap provided wasn’t kind enough on kids’ hands – a rebellion was narrowly avoided

— Tom Haslam (@T_Haslam) January 7, 2025

8.

The forthright exchange of views as to the merits of the teachers’ strike almost led to a repeat of January 6th.

— Jeff O’Boyle (@JeffOBoyle1) January 7, 2025

9.

Residents WhatsApp where kids aged 6/7 were branded vandals for drawing with chalk on a neighbours driveway. Row ensued, group disbanded shortly afterwards

— Free Palestine (@tankytaig) January 7, 2025

10.

‘You all need to wise up and get a life, if little John is to become a dentist or little Ben an IT specialist, he will. Pull your heads outta your asses and get some perspective’. I died . Radio silence ensued.

— Lucy M (@LucyM69230292) January 7, 2025

11.

School asked for a packed lunch to be provided in a carrier bag so it could be disposed of on a school trip to the zoo. Cue one mother refusing to send her kid unless paper bags were mandatory, the night before the trip.

— Kate (@martinimcfli) January 7, 2025

12.

This was actually the parents WhatsApp for my secondary school… but last year they had a massive row with the school over pictures of moldy cheese, arguing about nutritional value of the food, and inviting parents to taste test, the admittedly crap food.

— Easy0Breezy (@Plushie_Roses) January 7, 2025

13.

A guy campaigned IN THE CHAT to have his ex-wife removed from the classroom whatsapp because he wanted to be the contact. Went on for days and it seemed like he would get home from work and pick up where he left off.

— milly lunster (@millylunster) January 7, 2025

14.

Nettlegate. Twat teacher got reception kids to pull out nettles at school, some parents were mad, one parent snitched to the teacher, all of us hauled in for stern talk about the evils of social media.

— PlummyBrummy (@ThePlummyBrummy) January 7, 2025

15.

When ‘I think I smelled weed smoke coming from a bunch of teenagers in the carpark’ literally became ‘next thing you know, it’s drive-by shootings’ within about 15 replies.. neighbourhood WhatsApp in Ireland.

— James Horan (@JamesHoran76) January 7, 2025

Source: Twitter/X/shockproofbeats