Two weeks after my daughter attended the High School Prom, we wrote up our collective thoughts on her attendance. We wanted to take some time to sort through our emotions, analyze the decision and then write the comments down (and still be a good husband and Father to our nine children).
My daughter’s Reflection
Prom is something that I don’t think I’d ever want to go to again because it made me feel very uncomfortable. The close dancing, the immodest dress, the big group of people dancing so close together was something I am not used to being around. I was forced to dance closely too because there was not enough room to do anything else. I was unable to swing dance, which is my favorite type of dance. It was not just a few people dancing in an ungodly way, it was everybody on the dance floor and it was very uncomfortable to watch. Other than the raciness of this prom, I had a really good time, I was with good friends and that’s what helped me to enjoy myself in such an unwholesome environment.
Dad’s Advice
Overall, I am glad that she attended the Prom and that I was a volunteer chaperone. I wrote another blog entry about my reflections on the Prom event itself, you can read them here. The main reason why I say it was positive, is that my daughter got to experience a public school event and appreciate the good, wholesome, events that she has been participating in for the years that we have homeschooled her.
We have had many conversations about Prom since it occurred, it has given us much to talk about. I was worried about the appropriateness of the Prom event itself and unfortunately, my concerns were not without basis. The event was not something she enjoyed and not something she would choose to attend again.
Protective Parenting
In my opinion, our child rearing techniques have been vindicated, by our daughter’s reaction. We are raising all our children to know, love and serve Christ and to love his laws. Striving to teach them what is right and good, we have not exposed them to all the ugliness of the world, instead we have shown them, as best as we are able, the beauty of how God intended us to live and love one another. While she was curious and intrigued about what went on at a public school dance, when she experienced it first hand, she found it lacking. Happily, it appears that the foundation we have assisted her in building is on solid rock, the Rock of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Read the other articles in this series: