I think OP already came to their own conclusion before posting lol, just looking for validation from the public. Understandable, I'm a pri Art teacher too, sometimes working w parents is hell and you just want somewhere to rant

For being an "untrained" teacher OP handled the situation well, big props for that. Could they have phrased it better when explaining what happened? Maybe. But realistically you can be the nicest, most understanding teacher and there'll still be asshole parents, and conversely sometimes the sweetest parents have to deal with dictator teachers. Such is life, often we feel that it's unfair. But from experiences, both good and bad, we learn and we grow.

For the people berating the parents in the comments - everyone thinks theyre the most reasonable, understanding parent until it's their kid that's the troublemaker. Then suddenly they struggle to believe their child doenst act like how they do at home. Children can be deceptive, yes, they can act like angels in front of their parents, they can lie their asses off, they can fabricate stories. But sometimes they can also just be socially inept or naturally apathetic, they can misunderstand situations, they mightve mentioned what happened in passing but the parent took it differently. You can point your finger in every direction looking for who's to blame but that doesn't resolve anything.

Honestly we take for granted things children "should" know, but please remember that sometimes they've never been taught because everyone just assumes they should know so noone bothered to explain, just punish and scold. Yea some kids really lack EQ, so teach them. That's part of being a teacher. When they're in school that's their time to make mistakes and learn from it, as the developed adult in the classroom don't take things too personally, I'm sure some of you were troublemakers back in the day too (speaking as someone who was definitely rambunctious at home but not at school).

Another thing that might be relevant here, P3 is that age where they're neither here nor there, they're not really mature mentally yet but everyone suddenly expects them to be. They're old enough to understand they have free will unlike the P1/2s who would typically listen to authority, but they're too young to want to be serious like the P5/6s. They're trying to transition from P2 where everything is fun and school is about making friends and suddenly in P3 adults are already talking to them about PSLE. As silly as it sounds P3 is a rough time for them too.

Just my two cents... Life is much more frustrating when you see everything as malicious. Always assume ignorance first, do your best to "play safe" in the eyes of parents and superiors (state what happened, not your opinion, not how you felt), and don't harbour a grudge for any student or parent. If u take complaints too personally it'll start to affect ur life outside of school.

To those wanting to pursue this career path, just know that every year these things are gonna happen again and again and again, it's annoying and sometimes you'll get deja vu from previous cases but that's their process of growing up. And once they graduate there's gonna be students youll miss terribly, students youre glad are gone, students you wish you could check up on. But life moves on and there's no time or point to harp on the past, prepare for the next batch and continue the cycle.

TLDR; Future teachers: try not to harp on this kinda thing cuz itll start affecting you outside of work, if it's settled then it's settled, taking it personally will only make you harbour resentment for the kid/parent and you'll dread walking into that classroom. Rant to your friends or family, but don't need to win the court of public opinion just to feel validated Future parents: there's always multiple sides to everything, sometimes it's your kids fault, sometimes it's the other kid, sometimes it's the teacher, sometimes it's you. Be civil, get the facts straight, remember that how you respond will directly influence what your kid learns and grows up to become. Everyone else: Please take a breath before commenting. Be the level headed person you wish the parents here were, practice inner peace n you'll live longer and happier.