Awkward moments at local school’s daddy-daughter dance
Mar 21, 2013, 6:33 PM | Updated: Mar 22, 2013, 10:34 am
Father-daughter dances are a sweet tradition in many areas, though last fall a school in Rhode Island banned their annual dance. What are your experiences with daddy-daughter dances? (AP photo)
(AP photo)
It’s a sweet tradition in many area schools. Young ladies have a moment of bonding with that special man in their lives through daddy-daughter dances.
A Maple Valley father, who didn’t want me to use his name, went to a Tahoma School District dance last weekend with his daughters who are in fifth, seventh and ninth grades.
The girls were dressed up, the dads cleaned up pretty well too. Everyone was having a great time dancing to pop tunes including the Bruno Mars song “Locked out of Heaven.”
“Cause your sex takes me to paradise, Yeah your sex takes me to paradise
And it shows, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause you make feel like, I’ve been locked out of heaven, for too long, for too long”
“I don’t think the kids even pay attention to the lyrics, but when that song came on some of the dads just looked at each other,” the KIRO listener says. “We tried to ignore it too.”
There were a few other songs that seemed too sexual for a dad-daughter school dance, he says, including Lady Gaga’s “Love Machine.”
“I’m just a love machine, feeding my fantasy Give me a kiss or three and I’m fine I need a squeeze a day ‘stead of this negligee What will the neighbors say this time?”
“At that point the other dads were laughing and started dancing with each other,” he says.
He doesn’t want to make a big deal out of the music selections because overall the Tahoma School District’s dance was a positive experience.
Men in families and communities don’t always get the recognition they deserve, this event strengthens bonds.
Last fall, the school system in Cranston, Rhode Island ended their traditional father-daughter and mother-son activities, saying they are a violation of the state’s gender discrimination law.
In that case, the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of a single mother who said her daughter was not able to attend a father-daughter dance.
We didn’t have school-sponsored father-daughter dance when I was growing up, but some of my favorite memories are of doing the polka and schottische with my dad at family wedding dances.
I haven’t thought about that in years. I clearly remember how fast we’d swing around the dance floor in Spillville, Iowa. He was my hero then, and still is today.
Dads, do something fun with your daughters this weekend. She’ll remember decades from now and smile.
By LINDA THOMAS
