When you’re a teenager, embarrassing yourself at school can mean total social ruin, but this is the story of a kid who managed to turn a classroom faux pas into a total power move: after accidentally calling his teacher “Mom,” this high school student got emancipated and had his teacher adopt him.
Badass! What an awesome way to save face after a potentially devastating mistake!
Ninth-grader Jordan Bentham of Boston, Massachusetts had one of the most humiliating moments of his high school career this week when he walked into class and accidentally said “Mom?” in an attempt to get chemistry teacher Ms. Ehrlich’s attention. Everyone in the room instantly burst into laughter and jeers, asking Jordan if he was a baby who missed his mommy, and speculating that he probably needed an after-lunch diaper change. But rather than take their taunts sitting down, Jordan took action: he immediately left class to call a family court lawyer and file for legal emancipation from his mother and father, then obtained adoption papers for Ms. Ehrlich to sign. The next morning, after filing for bankruptcy due to his thousands of dollars in outstanding legal fees and saying a final goodbye to the biological mother and father he had lived with for fourteen years, he was able to show his bullies that he had only called his teacher mom because she was his mom in every legal sense.
Way to turn it around, Jordan! Sometimes you can’t take back what you said, but you can always double down!
When an older kid pushed Jordan up against his locker yesterday and said “Looks like little Jordy need to go get kiss from his mommy Ms. Ehrlich,” Jordan was able to confidently respond, “No, I don’t need a kiss from her, but she is my mother. There’s nothing funny about calling your mother ‘mom.’” No bully has yet found a response to that airtight argument, making Jordan completely untouchable by those who hope to torment him. In fact, since the adoption, Jordan has addressed Ms. Ehrlich as “mom” every day in class, regularly reminding his peers that it would be weird for him to call her anything else, given that she is his parent. “You wouldn’t call your mom ‘Ms.,’ would you?” he tells anyone who teases him, totally shutting down their attempt to make him feel bad about himself.
Seriously awesome!
Jordan’s classmates probably thought he would never live it down when he called the science teacher “Mom,” but since she is now his mom, he’s got nothing to worry about. This kid took a rough situation and made it work for him, and we are seriously impressed. Way to double down, Jordan!
