Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Am I the only one who is creeped out by this?

The local parks and rec office sent out this notice today.

The Parks & Recreation Department will be sponsoring a Daddy Daughter Dance on Tuesday, February 10 from 7-9 pm at the Sheraton Lansing Hotel. This special evening is open to all young ladies ages 2 & up and the adult male escort of their choice. The dance includes dancing to a DJ, refreshments, photo memento and a corsage for the lady. An optional dinner is available before the dance at an additional cost. The cost of the dance is $9.00 per person. Call 323-8555 to register or register on-line (must have an account set up).
I have heard of Daddy Daughter dances for a while but I really can't figure out if this is cute or if it is deeply disturbing.  I lean pretty strongly toward deeply disturbing.  A prom with your daughter seems to be to be pretty odd.  But wait this notice came too.

The Mother Son Dance will be held on Tuesday, March 10 from 7-9 pm at the Lansing Sheraton Hotel and includes dancing to a DJ, refreshments, photo memento and a special surprise. The dance is open to all young men ages 2 and up and the adult female escort of his choice. An optional dinner is available before the dance for an additional fee. The cost of the dance is $9.00 per person. Call 323-8555 to register or register on-line( must have an account set up).

Needless to say we will not be attending.


3 comments:

Fr Craig said...

what's the concern? I raised 3 daughters and those things, along with an annual father/daughter canoe trip, are some of my and their favorite memories!! Girls badly need to know that someone loves them unconditionally, and a solid father relationship is vital

Jr. said...

The canoe trip sounds great. I do have a daughter and we do a lot of things just the two of us but this seems so overtly a date and that troubles me I guess

Anonymous said...

I can understand your concern, but I think sometimes a dance is just a dance, to paraphrase Freud. In any case, my seven year old's invited me to a daddy/daughter dance coming up in a couple of weeks, so any scruples I might feel will have to be purely theoretical.

The fact is that going to a fairy tale princess ball is pretty much her idea of the height of good times. And she'll notice and appreciate my parental gift of putting on a suit (with a necktie, which is something my daughter knows I don't do lightly). No doubt there'll be a daddy/daughter dance at her wedding reception, too.

In my experience, there's a certain amount of weirdness you just have to live with in raising daughters (she tries to kiss me on the lips from time to time, when I'm trying to kiss her on the cheek; no doubt just to see what it feels like, since she sees it in movies). I try not to make too big a deal about it. She'll start applying this thinking to younger males soon enough.

Mother/Son dances, on the other hand, make no sense to me. In my experience of male youth, the only one who is likely to want such an event is the mother, not the son. But maybe times, and youth, have changed.

Peace,

Mark.