My son has his 7th grade dance tonight. He has had so many problems socially and has few friends. I am kind of surprised he wanted to go. I hope it goes well, but secretly I worry that this may turn into a bad memory for him.

Do any other parents dread these social events for their kids? I want him to have great memories of school, but the social rejection in the past is hard on both of us. He seems to be doing better, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I understand - my 6th grader has his first dance this year too, and it's coming up soon (2 weeks). He wants to go, but doesn't want to dance. He gets teased alot about being a small kid and I worry for him that it will be a negative experience. But, all I can do is try to tell him what to expect, and that he doesn't have to dance or even ask anyone to dance if he doesn't want to - but to enjoy hanging out with his small group of friends. And you never know, they may have fun. At least I hope so. I completely understand your hesitation - the fallout is never fun.

He went and he had fun. He had no intention of dancing, which is probably the same for the majority of 7th graders. I KNOW I need to quit worrying. The fall out isn't fun, but I need to separate from it. Not good at that.

Hey, worrying is our job. :) I'm glad things went well!