Teachers reveal wildest excuses for skipping school — like a kid who had to ‘feed a baby Kangaroo'

Students can be creative in many things, especially when it comes to making interesting excuses. Teachers who have heard countless explanations from students can never predict what's coming next, because each time brings a new and often absurd attempt to get away with something. In a compilation shared on November 12, teachers on Reddit shared the most bizarre excuses they have encountered when questioning students about their absence from class, and their stories have left online users in splits.

1) Getting married

u/Visible_Ad5653 shared how one student came back to reveal that they had gotten married, and hence missed school for a perfectly valid reason. "Senior in high school married her boyfriend since 5th grade… I was just flabbergasted, I didn't know what to say... I just walked away and said do I call you Mrs. blah blah now?" the teacher quipped. Out of worry, she wanted to check if the student was pregnant, but before she could build the courage to ask the uncomfortable question, the student themselves revealed that they were not.

2) Babysitting a kangaroo

u/-DesertJay- shared, "I did have a student text me (my school uses iPhones instead of landlines) that she had to babysit a baby kangaroo, and then sent two photos and video of her bottle feeding a baby kangaroo." To this, a teacher from Nevada, u/obilaurenkenobi, responded, "I had a student, while online for Covid, said he would be right back because he had to feed a baby goat. He came back a few minutes later and said, 'Do you want to see?' Turned his camera on, sure enough, a baby goat."

3) Helping 20 loose alpacas

u/dancinhorse99 shared a set of wild excuses they had heard from students. "In jail for assaulting her father during finals week. Herding 20 loose alpacas that had got loose from a hobby farm and ended up in the parking lot at the police station. Bridge washed out [and it] took 3 days to fix before any of the kids who lived down that road could get to school. Horse started foaling right before the bus came. Horses/cows got out. And one of my favorites: My brother put a giant alligator snapping turtle in my truck on the seat and I'm too scared to get it out (photographic evidence provided)."

4) Police showing up

u/bigalnd wrote, "Had a student miss class because their car got shot up over the weekend and the car was impounded as part of the police investigation. Sent me pictures of the car with bullet holes along the side of it." Another teacher, u/HowDoIRedditGood, wrote, "'I missed the exam because the SWAT team raided the tiger market and wouldn't let me or anyone else leave.' I was beyond confused. This excuse was later proved to be at least plausible, though I could never determine if it was actually true for the student."

5) Fighting chickens

u/Counting-Stitches shared, "During Covid, I had a student who left the Zoom a few times to break up fights between her chickens. Eventually, the 'victim' just lived in her room so it wouldn’t be picked on (literally). It appeared in many Zoom classes after that."

6) Adopting a pig

u/Grombrindal18 reminisced, "Reminds me of the time that an 8th grader told me that her homework was eaten by her pet pig, and showed me the destroyed papers. Honestly, I didn't even verify anything, as I figured that even if it's not true, it's creative enough to earn a short extension."

7) Dancing on stage

u/BabyKatsMom confessed, "Had a middle school student miss a whole day. She comes back and says she was up too late because she was at the Springsteen concert and even got pulled up on stage to dance to 'Dancing In The Dark.' Yeah, I know. I was there. I saw you. I still made it to school though (and I was totally jelly)!"

8) Unyielding garage door

u/MindfulEncounter revealed what true entitlement looks like. "Rich parents lived less than half a mile from our school and emailed that the student couldn’t come because parents couldn’t find the remote to the garage door… kid could have walked or biked. Uber would’ve been $4."

9) Thinking she was ill

u/petty_petty_princess shared an absurd correlation. "A student comes in, and we haven’t seen her in close to a month. She’s missed at least one exam. Her excuse: My roommate thought she had an STD. The roommate didn’t actually have one. My student didn’t have one or think she might have had one. The roommate possibly did, and somehow that meant that my student had to miss a month of an M-F class. She tried to catch up for maybe a week and then stopped coming in again. She failed, obviously."

10) Car dashing into the bedroom

u/Dr_Capsaicin shared, "I teach college (so marriage is not surprising) but my favorite was a girl who emailed that she would miss class and a quiz that day. She had to stay and talk to the police. She woke up to a car in her bedroom. An elderly gentleman having a diabetic episode lost control of his car, crashed through the entry to the house, and the front of the car stopped about 2 feet from her bed. She sent pictures. Thankfully, everyone was ok. I excused the absence (though technically it wasn't covered by any University rule!)."

In a 2025 study by Power and Education, researchers found a concerning trend in students' school absenteeism, which revealed an alarmingly low daily attendance rate of just 25-30% in many state government-run schools, particularly in rural areas. The study also showed that teachers routinely questioned the sincerity behind certain patterns of absence, and suggested a perception that some explanations functioned as convenient cover stories rather than genuine barriers.

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