Valentine’s Weekend in Southern Indiana is Designated for Daddy-Daughter Dances

For the past few years, my husband and daughter's Valentine tradition is to attend Crossroad Christian Church's Father-Daughter Dance in Newburgh. The church does really nice job of decorating and providing lovely catered snacks, fancy drinks, and age-appropriate music. Though I've never been, I've heard the highlight is for the girls to go on stage and dance.

This year's theme was Cowboys and Cowgirls. Is there anything the hit show Yellowstone hasn't infiltrated? (Actually, I love it.) When he went to Boot Barn to pick out some attire, the staff said that there were several western-themed dances in the area and they had been incredibly busy.

I'm a little sad I don't get to attend but I think it's important for them to have a night that's all their own. And honestly, if I was there she would have acted differently. She would have spent her time focused on me instead of him and that's not what I wanted. I teared up a little when I read a story this morning about an NFL player who took one of his middle school fans to a daddy-daughter dance. She recently lost her father and grandfather and her mom reached out to him on a whim. What a huge and awesome surprise for her! The story definitely made me tear up - even if I shuttered to think of me going to a father-daughter dance in middle school. OMG. GAG ME WITH A SPOON!

Father-daughter dances have come under fire recently. Those who criticize the dances argue that with the rise of non-traditional family units, singling out fathers and daughters is antiquated and can be hurtful to girls who do not have a father figure in their life. Not everyone has an NFL player to step up for them. They also point out that the role of fatherhood is changing and dads shouldn't need a special dance to spend time with their daughters and show them how special they are.

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In my daughter's school, before COVID, the PTO would host two parent breakfasts - Morning with Mom and Donuts with Dad. But, after seeing how many kids had to bring an alternative adult to the breakfast and the negative impact it had on some, the breakfasts were altered to Donuts with your Wonderwoman and Donuts with your Superman and everyone dresses up in their favorite superhero attire. The name change was well received.

An alternative that has been suggested is a family dance - another event we regularly had at school before COVID hit. Kids and parents always seemed to have a good time. But it does take away from that special one-on-one bonding time.

Back in the Eighties in rural Kentucky, we had no such thing as daddy-daughter dances but we had fall festival night at school that I always attended with my mom. And thinking back to childhood, I remember so many things. I remember the pumpkin decorating contest that my mom and I won (before there was Pinterest). I remember the horse rides in the ballfield that I loved even though I had my own horse. Some of my teachers had horses so they volunteered Oakridge, Stormy, and D-Bar to be the main attraction. I remember the cakewalks, the cafeteria chili, and the feeling of having my mom with me at school.

It all made me realize how important one-on-one time is with your kids. Carving out time with them to do something special means that you value them. We actually had tickets to see JOJO in concert (it was a rescheduled date) and I gave her the option of doing the DD dance instead. She opted to spend time with her dad. And though my husband and I do split up running her to her activities, I spend the bulk of time with her. So, the dance is incredibly important to her.

Valentine's Daddy Daughter dances aren't going away in this area anytime soon because both girls and their dads love them. In fact, they've been popping up more and more at churches and community centers.

If you missed this year's event, show your kids how special they are by taking them out on a special outing like these fun things around town.

• cMoe - Children's Museum of Evansville
• Deaconess Aquatic Center
• Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science
• Gattitown
• High Score Player Two: Classic Arcade
• Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden
• Mickey's Kingdom
• Secret Headquarters
• Showplace Cinemas
• Skate World
• Sky Zone
• Swonder Ice Arena
• The Inflatable Fun Factory
• Vertical eXcape Climbing Center
• Walther's Golf & Fun Center