Quote:
Originally Posted by TrojanWoman
It is becoming much more common for 8th grade dances to be in the evening and to almost mimic the sort of dances these kids will be experiencing next year in high school. At one school I worked at, we did this to help prepare them for this next social step in a more comfortable enviornment than just being thrown into a high school dance. Most of the schools around here still don't allow "dates" and say that you can show up alone or with same sex friends. As others have said, even with dates, most 8th graders tend to spend their dances in giant clumps anyways!
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That was true for us too. We had a lot of school dances starting in sixth grade, but they were mostly after school and kids wore jeans/whatever they wore to school. There was a lot of running, standing in clumps, and I remember people would do that thing where you lock arms and spin around really fast. Also if they had a video screen that played the music videos for the songs, it was a REALLY COOL dance and then everyone just stared at the screen and sang along to the songs. (Mariah Carey, "Fantasy," oh yeah!!!)
I also remember a lot of crying in the girls' room but I honestly can't remember why because there was nothing to cry about.
In 8th grade at the end of the year there was one evening dance where people dressed up really nicely and took "dates." Mostly you just met up with your date at the dance. I ended up having my first kiss at that one.
With a totally hippie/goth guy because that was my thing then. LOL. Silly baby breathesgelatin.
In short I don't think have a semiformal evening dance in 8th grade is a big deal. A lot of people start dating more seriously once they hit high school. The popular girls in my class - and not the trashy ones either - were all dating juniors in high school in the fall of the next year. I guess most people start dating around 15 or 16... My first "date" was a group date a 14 - our parents dropped us all off at a movie. I tried to hold my boyfriend's hand and he got upset because he thought I was moving too fast. LOL. I'm such a hooch, clearly. It's funny now because he is still one of my dear friends and we were co-percussion captains in high school band. (Yeah, nerd fest.)
My mom is a substitute teacher who practically works full time at my middle school. She's been asked to chaperone a lot of the middle school dances because she's respected as a teacher who won't put up with crap. She loves going to them and thinks they are the funniest and most pitiful things in the world. It makes her month to be asked to work at one. Of course my mom really has a passion for middle schoolers. She says they're so fascinating because they're not quite human.
Sorry for this long, rambly post... I guess my point is, middle school dances are pretty pathetic and I think an 8th grade semiformal is actually kind of nice practice for high school. Also helps the good kids to really start to see what the good kids actually DO at a dance vs. the kids who are more loose with everything... because I do think that more forward guys and girls really do start pushing the limits of dating/sexual stuff in 8th grade, and the good kids start to realize what things they SHOULDN'T be doing. If that makes sense. I really think by the end of 8th grade/definitely by 9th grade, parents really need to just believe that they've given the kids a good foundation and start backing off a bit and letting them explore their (slightly pitiful) young adult lives.
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