At 12, there was no way I would have gone to a father/daughter dance. And I was somewhat of a Daddy's girl when I was young. By the time I was 12, I thought he was a weirdo.

From a father's standpoint, I'd feel endeared if my daughter at 12 was still invested enough to ask me to do something like that. It'd be fun.

Think of when a woman dances with her father at her wedding. I don't think either are weird, from my standpoint. Before I was a father? I'd probably have thought it was weird.

SD's school does one. 

I wanted to barf the first year I was in the picture because BM bought the tix for them (probably just to keep up appearances). SD was 7/8 at the time, I think. They couldn't go the next year but he took SD and DD(8mo at the time) the year after that and a I think that was the last time they went. I think SD realized that she was one of the older kids there. And I'm sure not  lot of her friends were there.

I do see posts on Facebook of Dad's and their middle schoolers, but usually 6th graders. 

I think it might be fun for my DD at some point but I'm not going to push the issue or make it a "must do."

I like the "Donuts with Dad" or "Muffins with Mom" ideas more, but only if it's known that it doesn't have to be the kid's mom or dad but someone like it, like and uncle, grandparent, and even stepparent!

Plus My step brats are ALL Socially awkward and need daddy to hold their hand for everything. Thank god they never had any interest in sports or boy/Girl Scouts. If they did they would have demanded daddy dearest be at EVERY event and fully involved. So much of DH time is devoted to Babying these kids. SS is in middle school and refuses to do any Homework unless daddy is sitting right next to him. We go out to eat SS needs to sit next to DH or has a meltdown. SS won’t go to bed at night till DH goes to bed also. So Annoying!

But for other reasons too

What about the girls that don't have father's. Mine died when I was a kid. I didn't need anything else  to make it more painfully obvious that I was different. 

I don't see the need and actually think the whole thing is kind of weird and unnecessary. 

I don't think they have those sorts of things around here, or I've never heard of them. Why don't they have Mommy/Son dances? Because it's weird when you reverse it, it seems incestuous. And it's sort of creepy for fathers/daughters too, IMO.  There is a romantic/sexual undertone that makes it seem yucky (to me). 

I think the whole staged "date" thing with daddy/daughter and mother/son is cheesy at best. I never participated as a kid, due to there not being any....and i don't think there have been any such events available for my kids, either. Maybe it's a product of social media, a chance to post pics?

I have no issue with them; I think it's a nice daddy/daughter bonding opportunity that's different from most of them.  DH took SD7 to a daddy/daughter dance her school had when she was in 4K.  They both had a good time.  That was in a different school district and I haven't seen an equivalent event in our new school district.  When I was a kid, the girl scouts sponsored a daddy/daughter dance.  It was a square dance, and I always enjoyed it.  My dad was outnumbered 3 to 1 by daughters, so a couple times we dragged my uncle along (he had all boys, so no experience with such things).  I went up until about age 12.  It was fun because we hung out with my friends and their fathers and it was a big group thing. 

There is a lot of overtone with many of these so I suppose it depends on which ones you are talking about.  I am far more comfortable with just having a dance with all the kids coming and the parents or other significant adults in their lives attending.  That way there is no stigma for a child who does not have the "correct" parent showing up due to death, divorce, estrangement, gender identity, or any number of reasons.

But the daddy/daughter dances verging on "vestal virgin ceremonies" where the girl wears a white dress, gives a pledge of purity until marriage, and receives a ring from her father to be replaced by her eventual wedding ring?  Oh 16 shades of H@LL NO!!!!!

How do I "feel" about Daddy/Daughter dances? For starters:

I believe most men would NOT have thought about planning dances with their daughters. THAT is a female thing. 

I believe it is a 'push' by women who had daddy issues. JMO

I think it is odd.

The shift of many things 'strange' began with Generation X---saw it among my neighbors who were just a few years older than I.  You know everyone is handed a trophy mentality. Many of these, now mommies, didnt have dad at home because of divorce shifted to "NO FAULT". Add into that mix, child support awards to the max when dads 'absent".

Swing back to now...I think it is ridiculous. These moms should be dressing themselves UP to the 9's and spending their night with their stud husbands instead of pushing their young daughters into gowns, hair-do's, makeup, perfume and wrist corsages'. Isnt that odd when you think about it?

JMO of course.

After about 3rd grade, it is not appropriate.  Mayby a Father/Daughter dinner but not a dance when the kids hit 8-10yo.

But, I am not a breeder and have never been a dad to little girls.

I raised a son (SS-27) as my own since he was 2yo and adopted him at his request when he was 22.

This does not pass the smell test for me.

This is just one of the endless things that our schools do to get parents to spend all their time and money. Our school is relentless. It isn't enough to get all the swim gear from both high school and club...now the advisory (kind of a homeroom that meets 20 minutes every morning in our high school) needs you to spend $60 on sweatpants. According to most schools, particularly in more affluent areas, parents all have unlimited time and money to spend or donate on anything that is asked, and by the way all moms stay home and have flexible schedules too of course!

Daddy-daughter dance thankfully ended 4th grade for us...and no mom-son dances for me and DS at all, thankfully. I thoroughly enjoyed his swim meets though!

I didn't grow up in the US and such thing is unheard of where I am from. I live in the US now and never heard of it here either. I mean I heard that those exist but it's not being done around here. I only saw such things on TV. Must be regional. It sounds insane to me to be honest 

I just asked DH about it and he said it's (or was) mostly popular in small towns and rural areas. 

I went to father daughter dance up until like 4th or 5th grade I think with my school. They also had mother son picnic/baseball outings reach year.

SO never got to go with SD I remember when she was like 7 he called to see if she could spend the weekend and BM said she was going to a dance. I was immediately confused about what kind of dance she could be going to at that age so I pulled up the school calendar online and showed SO that they were having a father daughter dance. SO was rightfully pissed off. SD went with BMs boyfriend of the month. Next time we saw SD she said that she wanted to wait until next year to go with him because it would be more special. 

I think they're fine for kids but I wouldn't have wanted to go with my dad as a preteen or teen. I would have been embarrassed.

Yep, that's my first thought.

I think it's cute when it's a little girl and it's a spontaneous occurrence at a wedding or social event. Same with a mother and little boy. Otherwise, I find it kind of incestuous and weird.

I had father-daughter dances through Girl Scouts. We also did mother-daughter bingo (which turned into mother-daughter fashion show/tea time, which I HATED). It was themed, and they taught the girls who attended different dances based on the style/era theme.

THAT I enjoyed. The older scouts helped teach the dances and they volunteered to run it with their dads (they also got to have fun, but it was their service learning project). The younger girls learned a new skill. Your goal was to dress based on the theme, so no big, expensive dresses or makeup. It got dads involved in a hands-on way. And there was ONE per year.

From what I can tell from the current dances that plague park and recreation departments across the country, it seems more like prom for kids. Everyone is super dressed up, it's slow song and "candlelit" tables for dinner/desserts. There is an aura of romance to it that seems unnecessary. It looks vapid and shallow. And they happen every GD weekend it seems.

Really, I'm not against them, but I think there is a way to make them more interactive and skills building. Have a costume contest for best outfit to fit the theme! Bring in a local dance instructor to teach a free class as part of the dance! Offer opportunities for older girls to be ambassadors! There was ways to make it less about the pomp and circumstance that would make them far less cringey.

I find it quite creepy actually.  Its ok for the little girls but after about 3rd-4th grade it seems odd.  That being said, though, I was really independent, even as a young girl, and I never looked at my Dad as like Prince Charming or anything Disney like that.  He was "Dad" that I respected and looked up to.  Dad eventually taught me basic car maintenance, how to study in college, gave me career advice, modeled what a good husband looks like by taking care of my Mom during her terminal illness, etc...I guess it was just a different type of relationship.  He and I both would have probably been weired out by this sort of thing.  LOL.  Thank goodness I'm a boy mom so this has never come up.  More power to the dads that do this, though.  DIfferent strokes...

Both DH and I agree they are creepy- SD wanted him to attend one but he didn't.  My brother goes w/his daughter but she's 8-I still find it creepy as heck though.  Do you all remember this creepy as hell video (shudder)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9tM55ICVsk