I was listening to talk radio while driving into work last week and heard a story that left me scratching my head and saying “C’mon, man”.
City school officials in Cranston, Rhode Island have ended their father-daughter dance and mother-son ballgame activities. Here’s their logic: they believe that these activities violate state discrimination laws.
Apparently, the school superintendent says the decision was in response to a complaint from a single mother, who brought her case to the American Civil Liberties Union after her daughter wasn’t allowed to attend a father-daughter dance.
At my daugther’s elementary school, the Father Daughter Dance has been re-branded the “Me and My Guy Dance” in order to appeal to all types of family situations. I applaud this. If I was a single mother raising my children alone, I wouldn’t want the constant reminder. Re-branding the dance is absolutely appropriate, in my humble opinion, because let’s face it…all of us did not grow up in a traditional family situation. However, I think cancelling these activities is a little extreme.
Smarties, weigh in on the debate! Let me hear from you – what do you think about the Cranston, RI superintendent’s decision?
5 comments
Honestly, I have to say… this is a tough one! The father-daughter dance (FDD) at our school has been so awesome/special/amazing, etc. for my daughter & husband… They have gone together kindergarten through 3rd grade. My daughter is now in 4th grade & she only has 2 years left of going to the FDD – big snif!!
BUT… I am in the position of having the “traditional” family… if I didn’t have this situation, I could certainly see how the FDD could be tough, to say the least…and discriminatory…
In my opinion, this is over the top to ban a dance because all people don’t have traditional families. Say what? Rename the dance and keep the concept. “Me and My Guy” dance sounds perfect! And if a girl doesn’t have ANY guys, then I feel like it’s similar to a freshman wanting to go the Jr./Sr. prom, but doesn’t have a date that qualifies. She just doesn’t get to go. Should we start banning the prom or making it for all ages so she can? I don’t think so.
We all don’t get to do everything we want to do.
It feels like we are setting our children up to feel very entitled about quite a few things. And that this country has become so litigious that we end up taking extreme meausures of political “correctness.” Fear of a lawsuit is making silly rules we all end up having to follow!
It is discriminatory. The school can easily have a Family Dance. Is okay for some kids to miss-out on a dance but your child gets to go and have all the fun? How nice of you and others to make and impose that decision. Inclusivity is always the better path to take.
My dad passed away when 3 days before I turned 11. It was me, my 9 year old sister, and my 4 year old sister. We were involved in a-lot of functions that had “daddy-daughter” dances. Alot of people knew our situation and that my mom was a single mom. However, instead of raising a fuss, or what have you, My Uncles would always step in for us. I agree with the name change though. In this day and age, it is very common to have a non-traditinal family. So to include everyone, as to where noone feels left out, I think the name change is a great idea. Going as far as banning the event, I believe will hurt the daughters in the long run. If the school banned the dance, did they ban the Mommy-Son games?
I like that our school has a “Family Dance” event; all are invited to enjoy and have fun together. There is usually one song designated as a Father/Daughter dance and one song as a Mother/Son dance but the event is Family focused.