Anonymous wrote:I don’t even understand why YOU’RE going. It’s fall of freshman year. If they make the sport, don’t you want to be at the game that will probably be that weekend? If they go to homecoming, don’t you want to see them off and take pictures? If they’re making new friends and get invited to something, don’t you want them available to say yes?

Huh? I have the game schedule already and there are no conflicts.

And my husband is perfectly capable of taking photos and driving children around.

I’m going to visit my elderly parents.

What is wrong with you?

Anonymous wrote:I don’t even understand why YOU’RE going. It’s fall of freshman year. If they make the sport, don’t you want to be at the game that will probably be that weekend? If they go to homecoming, don’t you want to see them off and take pictures? If they’re making new friends and get invited to something, don’t you want them available to say yes?

Do you know what a grandparent is?

I'm not going to homecoming.

Does that help?
No. Ask your kid.

For my DD, it would be a very big deal. It wasn’t about the dance, but about the huge social outing with friends.

My DS (with autism) doesn’t even consider going to the dance and doesn’t have any real friends to hang with.

It depends on the kid.

For my W school kid it was big deal. They were really looking forward to it with a group of friends. Everyone got dressed up, took lots of photos, went out to dinner, and then the dance.

It is kind of a big deal for the parents too if you are into that sort of thing.

For girls, they really look forward to it if their friend group is into it. Some kids don't have a big group, so maybe they are not into it as much.

My son could have missed it and it would not have been a big deal.

As a PP mentioned, I would talk to you kid to get a feel for how they feel about it. She/He may have no idea until a week or two before when friends start planning.

My kids have never gone and don't seem to care. They are not the cool kids tho. They are nerds.

Depends on the kid. Two of my three would have been devastated to miss it. One had to perform at the game so missing the game was never an option. My daughter has been shopping for her outfit for months.

I don’t even understand why YOU’RE going. It’s fall of freshman year. If they make the sport, don’t you want to be at the game that will probably be that weekend? If they go to homecoming, don’t you want to see them off and take pictures? If they’re making new friends and get invited to something, don’t you want them available to say yes?

I will leave it up to my kid. It's a Frontier flight and the loss would be about $150, and I think even that is salvageable for a later date so no worries. It's a tough decision to choose between seeing grandparents (and meeting their puppy) and Homecoming, but I trust him and they will understand. Life lesson, I guess!

It depends. None of my 3 kids (1 girl, 2 boys) thought it was a big deal at our W school. All skipped it. Obviously there are other kids who think it’s really important based on my FB feed. I think you just have to know your child’s personality. My kids’ friends who did attend tended to go in very large groups rather than with formal dates.

I would bet homecoming is a bigger deal to the girls than the boys.

Only you will know if it’s important to your kid. If it were me, and I too have a rising MCPS 9th grader, I’d encourage participation bc it might be a nice bonding/school spirit experience with new friends and help them feel more connected to the school community.

It was a big deal for my Freshman at a W school last year. A big group of friends went to the game and event (our school doesn't do a dance) and got all dressed up and went to dinner in DC that weekend.

The answer is no

I booked a trip to visit grandparents on a Fall weekend, leaving Friday evening, and turns out that is Homecoming. My kid is a new student at a W high school.

I'm giving them the option of not going (tickets were cheap so we can eat it last minute) but to set expectations for me and grandparents, how important is the Homecoming game and dance for Freshmen? I will do regardless. It is really difficult to find a weekend.

My kid has nothing to do with Football but may play a Fall sport if they make it.