Valentine’s Day Dance

Early in the year, our teachers voted to not allow the 5th and 6th graders to attend any school sponsored dances because of the age differences in our kids and fear of angry calls from parents who didn’t want their children attending dances at such a young, immature age. To our surprise, MPAC (the middle school parent’s association who periodically puts on after school events for the kids like movies or ice cream socials) decided to have a 5th and 6th grade Valentines dance.

Now not only have we crossed the lines of having a dance for our youngest middle school kids, we are having a Valentines dance. Immediately I was getting crying girls in my office. One girl was upset because she had said yes to being a a boy’s girlfriend, but her friend decided she didn’t like the boy and pressured this girl into breaking up with him. The girl in my office was upset because she had tried to get back together with the ex-boyfriend when she finally decided that she didn’t want her friend making her decisions for her..but the boyfriend had already selected another girl - who he was supposedly going to DANCE with at the big dance. She was pretty inconsolable. Especially since everything was done. No decisions could be undone or redone.

The teachers had complained to me all week saying that the 5th grade was in chaos. Numerous feelings had been hurt and all the classes were a-buzz with what they were going to wear to the dance, etc. Again, since it was parent sponsored, there was nothing we could do except watch it happen…and unravel.

The dance was on Valentines’ Day - right after school (which the 8th graders thought was so stupid). As I was leaving, the secretary stopped me in the hall, she was laughing as she was saying that she didn’t think MPAC would be sponsoring any dances soon. I asked what was going on and she said to take a walk by the cafeteria on my way out.

Things heard as I walked by:

“We want you to have fun and be able to dance engergetically but there is absolutely NO RUNNING. Again, we can get back to the fun soon, but there is NO RUNNING.”

Music starts - then stops a few seconds later with another frazzled voice making an announcement, “One more thing, there is no water throwing. NO water throwing.”

As I closed the door on my way out, I heard groans of complaint from the kids…and I laughed all the way to my car.

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