The First School Dance
I am quickly figuring out that these Middle School years are going to be full of firsts that I just wasn’t really expecting. On Friday the Middle School is having its first dance of the year. It is open to 6th graders only and when I first told my son (Mr. Shy) about it, he showed no interest in going.
Well, that outlook has changed and I’m really glad.
At the beginning of the school year I was a little worried about Mr. Shy. Half of his good friends went to one school and the other half go to the same school as he does. But it didn’t seem that he had classes with many of them. For the first few weeks I would ask Mr. Shy who he ate lunch with and he would say no one - and wasn’t really concerned about it.
The weeks have gone by and he is forging new friendships and rekindling some old ones. And now he wants to go to the dance. Not that they will actually dance, but the fact that he feels comfortable enough with his classmates and the idea of socializing, is reassuring.
I asked him if he had asked a girl to the dance and I got a really weird look from him. He hadn’t actually put those two concepts together yet. Instead he would rather just go hang out with all his friends.
So the dance is Friday right after school. I would love to be a fly on the wall to see it. I am sure that all the boys will be on one side of the room and the girls will be giggling and dancing in little groups on the other side.
Don’t worry - I’ll be back with a post-dance recap! Have your kids gone to dances yet? What are your thoughts?
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POSTED IN: Middle School
5 opinions for The First School Dance
Debbie
Sep 25, 2007 at 5:36 pm
My daughter just started high school and the first dance is coming up in 2 weeks. She was not interested, until a boy asked her to go and now she is all excited. We went and bought a nice dress and I am excited for her. She is normally a jeans gal but I am excited to see her get all dressed up. If she dances, that would be a miracle…anyway, she was pretty much in the same situation with having to make new friends because all of her friends from last year went to the new school in town that they just built and she had to start all over making new friends, but thank goodness for band over the summer which helped her make some friends before school started.
Emms
Sep 25, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Boys on one side, girls on the other?
Obviously, you haven’t been to a middle school dance, lately. Think raunchy high school prom, only less formal, and more prepubescent.
Elizabeth
Sep 26, 2007 at 7:42 pm
My daughter had her first one last year.
The 7th graders were beautiful, the boys made sure everyone got to dance, and, the girls accepted dances from whoever asked.
The 8th graders, on the other hand…hoo boy, there’s no girls on one side and boys on the other anymore.
Kelly
Sep 28, 2007 at 9:32 am
My daughter’s elementary school had a couple of dances a year, but parents came too. The first couple of years I would dance with her, but then she got older and more embarrassed by my existence, so I’d stand back and watch her dance and giggle with her girlfriends while the boys just chased each other around the room. This is her first year of middle school too, and I’m assuming there will be dances (without me!). I’m looking forward to it. I always loved dances when I was a kid.
I hope your son has a great time!
Tammy P
Oct 30, 2007 at 5:42 am
My daughter also started middle school this year and I had much the same experience with her. Most of her friends went to a different school and the first couple of weeks were rough for her.
When the first dance rolled around (a couple of weeks ago), she showed little interest at first, but as the date came closer, she decided to go. (boys and girls aren’t going to them together yet at this age though…they just agree as a group to all be there).
I was fortunate enough to be asked to chaperone it….wow, what an experience!
Let’s just say that it wasn’t the ‘boys on one side, girls on the other’ picture I’d painted in my head. No, there was nothing bad going on, but boys are girls are most certainly interacting.
I find that a lot of mothers of boys seem to be completely clueless as to just how interested their little boys are in girls at this age. My daughter currently has 3 boys chasing after her….two of them have moms who believe their sons to be completely uninterested in girls.
Wake up moms! They’re not clueless, just quiet. ;-)
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