Reply to Saying no to an invitation too dance at a MS dance

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I find this entire thread sad, and indicative of why kids are confused nowadays. Extrapolating everything out to the nth degree is what gets us idiots shaming girls for wearing a non-western styled dress for “insensitive cultural appropriation”. You should not make everything a moral equivalent. [b]Teaching kids social graces in a middle school dance is not the same as consenting to an intimate sexual relationship. It just isn’t.[/b]

By teaching them that it’s all the same, you are not teaching them how to recognize and navigate complexity. You are teaching them that everything is a Big Deal and no critical thinking is necessary. Just fall back onto stereotypes, view everything in a particular context or single narrative (gender, race, whatever), and scream away whenever a situation doesn’t fall into your particular version of reality.

I’m teaching my kid not to be a mean girl and gang up and giggle on the kid who isn’t the prettiest jock in the school.[b] Unless there is a known history of the other person being a total jerk to you, you always be kind and try something once. So yes, for a MS dance, absent some compelling circumstance, you say yes. My son will be the same message when he hits that age.[/b] [/quote]

OMYGOSH FINALLY a voice of reason here! THANK YOU!
If your child can't politely agree to dance with some kid (boy or girl) who plucks up the courage to ask him/her as everyone is watching (and they DO watch...haven't you guys ever been to middle school before? It's like crossing the Great Divide...the long march to make the ask! ugh!), then maybe they shouldn't go to the dance.
Even at cotillion as a kid, the one big lesson that the ettiquette lady taught the girls AND boys is that you don't decline a dance from someone just because you don't fancy them. You can decline a SECOND dance, but that is after you have already danced once. It's just rude and cruel to say no at a public dance/banquet/whatever when someone asks you to dance. You don't have to like the person...but you don't make a face or decline. And at the end of the dance, you politely say "thank you" and walk away. If he/she asks again, you can say "no, but thank you for asking". (Obviously the "can/can't"s here refer to polite etiquette. In reality, of course you can do whatever you want...but it might be rude.)

THIS IS DANCING ETIQUETTE...not rules for sexual engagement, people. There are societal norms that have nothing to do with the #metoo movement and everything to do with basic decency.[/quote]

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