'You are the problem: the types of parents childcare centres DON'T WANT'

"Hire a nanny for that level of care," a controversial Aussie ex-educator says, frustrated with "PITA parents."

3 min read

January 6, 2025 - 10:24AM

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An Aussie creator and former childcare educator, Kobe The Controversial Educator, has lived up to her social media handle with some recent divisive take on parents' problematic habits.

Kobe begins her most recent explosive clip by announcing, "Types of parents that centres DON'T WANT. Let's talk about it."

She explains, "Parents that complain about every little thing: missing socks, losing stuff that's not labelled, how much they ate, how much the didn't eat... not smiling in photos, not getting updates every minute of the day... not getting daily written feedback.

"The level of care that these parents expect is a nanny. If you want personalised, one-on-one care, that's what a nanny is."

Image: Kobe the Controversial Educator/TikTok

Kobe also mentions that parents complain when they're told "they've had a good day" - but she insists, "no news is good news."

"If you want honest feedback from your educators, don't be an ass."

When there is a concern about behaviour, she encourages parents to accept the feedback., and "work on things at home" otherwise, "you are part of the problem."

The clip is captioned, "Childcare POV: The PITA parents!" (PITA meaning pain in the ass.)

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"You're the reason carers are resigning"

In a follow up clip captioned Childcare POV: complaints, complaints, complaints!, Kobe clarified she was talking about parents who complained about those topics.

"When I post a video, people don't have comprehension of what I'm saying.

"The key word in that video was 'complain'.

"When I say complain about how much children ate, complain about how much they didn't eat, I'm not joking when I say there are parents who go, 'What do you mean they've only had one bowl of food?'

"If they're not hungry, they're not gonna eat... I don't know what people expect.... We can't force children to eat or sleep...

"Your outrageous dictation of saying your child can only sleep for two minutes because it's gonna affect your nighttime routine, you're the problem. You are 100 percent the problem."

She adds, "I don't know why parents cannot parent. If you can't cope with the ups and downs of being a parent... you probably shouldn't have been a parent...

"You are literally the reason why carers are resigning."

Kobe ended the clip by telling viewers this was a "wake up call" for those parents. In a subsequent follow up, she told parents that it is "time to change" because it's not appropriate to "gaslight" carers by blaming them for their child's behaviour.

"It's their duty of care"

We asked Kidspot parents for their responses to Kobe's perspectives.

"My daycare tracks if my son ate and how much he ate in an app. It means I'll know what sort of night he'll have (if he's too hungry overnight he wakes up)," one said of her expectation of such feedback.

This mum agreed, adding, "It's their duty of care to tell you how their day was - which includes what they ate (if they ate at all), how they slept (if they slept at all) and how their day was generally.

"Parents give a handover when they drop the child off so you can understand how their day might go and we expect the same from daycare workers so we can understand how their night might go."

But responses on Kobe's clips were much less polite.

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Many viewers noted this sentiment, which was echoed multiple times: "Paying as much as we do for childcare, we expect feedback and results."

Another added, "I think for the price I pay a day for daycare I can be told if my kid ate enough or slept."

But Kobe replied, "Yep you missed the point."

On the feedback issue, one mum shared, "I openly hate the ‘they had a good day’. No anecdotes? Cute interactions? Even just ‘she had a good day, she ate, she slept, she got along well with her friends, is forming a friendship with x’?"

In the almost 1000 comments, there was some support for Kobe, such as this person who offered:

"Oh my god, the people saying they pay a lot for fees, we get it! But why take it out on the staff? We don’t decide how much you pay in fees," to which Kobe replied, "Wish I could pin this comment. The comment section shows the type of parents I’m talking about.

"Hopefully some of their educators see it so they can see. What they really think of them!"

Kobe's opinions certainly raised many issues from both carers and parents - tell us in the Facebook comments what resonates with you.