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Daddy Daugher Dinner

(27 posts)

Started 1 year ago by sofeery
Latest reply from Edog

sofeery

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Hello,

I am a program director at the Ballard Community Center, the BCC is holding the annual Daddy Daughter Dinner on Friday, April 27. Due to Parks cut backs the BCC was unable to produce this long standing event ( 20 yrs ) last year but this year due to effort of the Advisory Council, a group of volunteer community members and cooperation from Seattle Parks and Recreation we will be holding the event again. With just one year of missing this event we have had a drop in the tradition and would like to get the info out to as many families as possible. Any assistance with this would be greatly appriciated.

Ballard Community Center
6020 28th Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
206-684-4093
http://www.facebook.com/#!/BallardCC

Daddy Daughter Dinner
This years theme: masquerade ball
April 27
6:00-8:00
$60 for both dad and daughter ($10 for each additional daughter)
Includes: Dinner, desert, dancing, crafts, take home treat and photo booth.

More info can be provide upon request.

Posted 1 year ago #
cdpenne

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I am pretty sure it is a date for me and my daughter. Thanks for the work you do. We are looking forward to it.

Posted 1 year ago #
Cate

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Can you also sponsor a Mother-Son dinner and Father-Son as well as a Mother-Daughter dinner? Or maybe we can celebrate any parent/child combination?

Posted 1 year ago #
Amy J

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It's important to be able to celebrate relationships in families, regardless of gender.

If you feel this concept is out-dated, then call it out; but, you are missing the point of the benefits of nurturing father-daughter relationships.

Posted 1 year ago #
Cate

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No, I am not overlooking the benefit of nurturing Father-Daughter relationships. I am pointing out that it is just as important to nurture Mother-Son, Father_Son and Mother-Daughter relationships.
Should a widowed Father not also be able to bring his son? A single Mother her daughter, her son? A grandparent who is raising their grandchild? There are all types of parent-child relationships that need to be honored and nurtured. BCC is a publically funded community center, they need to be sensitive to all the children in our community, many who do not fall into the traditional two parent model. Exclusion is hurtful.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mondoman

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No need to demand that all services be perfect, Cate. Seems to me that this one is positive, as likely would be the others you mention.

Posted 1 year ago #
great idea

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what if my son wore a wig and a dress, would they let us in?

he would totally do it, too.

Posted 1 year ago #
Ernie

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It's an event highlighting a specific type of relationship, much like Mother's Day etc. If you include every possible parent/child combination it totally misses the point, and just becomes "dinner".

I don't have any kids, a category excluded from Cate's list, should I feel left out? How far do you take "inclusion"?

Posted 1 year ago #
Mondoman

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You're also a Sesame Street character, so you just end up being special!

Posted 1 year ago #
Cate

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Really, a father's pleasure in spending an evening with his daughter at a masquerade ball will be affected by the presence of a mother and her son also enjoying the event?

My son's school had mother/daughter and father/son events which excluded my son's participation and distressed him. So after the first year I just took him to the father/son event where I was warmly welcomed by the fathers and my son had a great time with me and his classmates. Really, since when does celebrating the parent/child relationship have to be gender-specific? We should be well past that. If the Elks or the Swedish Club want to have a father/daughter event I don't care but BCC is a publically funded center.

Posted 1 year ago #
cdpenne

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I would be highly surprised if anyone was turned away at the door, regardless of sex or the particulars of the relationship. But since this is the MB forum and arguing is what we do here, carry on!

Posted 1 year ago #
Cate

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cd- I agree with you, I too doubt that they would turn anyone away. But it would be nice if people were made to feel welcome.

Posted 1 year ago #
eric

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come on cate, really? so since i'm single and childless, should i feel hurt and excluded also? what a strange gripe.

Posted 1 year ago #
cdpenne

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I do not claim to speak for sofeery, so take it for what it't worth...

But, to have a "dinner" wouldn't attract much of a crowd and a crown is precisely what is needed. The point of calling it a "Daddy - Daughter Dinner" has absolutely nothing to do with exclusion. The point is to give some flair or stuck to what would otherwise be called a 'dinner'.

This is a good thing. Our community centers need all the support they can get from the families that primarily use them, and if having a 'Daddy Daugher Dinner' fills the basketball court, well then more the better. And if a bunch of people who feel they might have been excluded also crash the party and fill the basketball court beyond capacity and the hall is full, and the pottery room is full, and the dance rooms are full and the infant room is full, well that's more the better too.

Rage on!

If you happen to come upon some kid who looks hungry, by all means, grab him / her and bring 'em to dinner.

It "JUST DOESN'T MATTER".

Posted 1 year ago #
Cate

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So I am a nine year old, and my best friend who sits next to me in class is telling me all about this party she's going to with her dad where she gets to dress up, and there are photos and games and I can come too and we can dress alike....and I really want to go but I don't have a Dad.... Eric, I don't care if you feel excluded, or any adult but the kids shouldn't.
CDpenne and I think alike, we'd just come, and have a good time with our child. But not all parents feel comfortable just coming where they are not apparently invited. The people at BCC are good people who run good programs. The Masquerade Ball they are planning sounds like great fun - so call it, advertise it, as a Parent & Child Masquerade Ball & Dinner. The simple change of two words can make it a whole lot more welcoming to families.

Posted 1 year ago #
cdpenne

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Cate, I wholeheartedly agree with you, but as one who has spent a fair amount of time writing crap to sell crap, I can tell you that a 'Daddy Daughter Dinner' is infintely more appealing than 'dinner' or 'parent child dinner'. There comes a point when writing copy where you simply have to select a target audience.

I understand that in this day and age we expect our public offerings to be all inclusive, but the problem is that isn't possible.

Given the dire straights our local community center is in, I am more than willing to forgo the all inclusive requirement for a little of what works, and in the past the Daddy Daughter Dinner worked.

Besides, I'm a dad, and I have a daughter, and despite what you might think there isn't a whole lot that is geared towards us in the local scene so I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.

Anyway, I hope a shit ton of moms and sons show up anyway!

Posted 1 year ago #
great idea

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"Anyway, I hope a shit ton of moms and sons show up anyway!

no, they're all waiting for the 'Oedipal Ball' the BCC puts on in July.

Posted 1 year ago #
angeline

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There sure are alot of "Mommy and Me" events out there. Just saying.

Posted 1 year ago #
Cate

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There are a lot of Mommy and Me events (which I encourage fathers I work with to attend) but they pretty much end when the kids reach kindergarten age. There needs to be more for parents and kids in elementary school. It is like we try to separate kids and parents once they reach age 5 or 6.

Posted 1 year ago #
BuffaloHawk

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Do the hermaphrodite children get included or excluded to all the gender events ?

Posted 1 year ago #
onederfullone

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I'd suggest a full frisk.

We can't let this stuff get out of hand, you know...

I can tell you that a 'Daddy Daughter Dinner' is infintely(sp?) more appealing than 'dinner' or 'parent child dinner'.

...you can see my point...

Next up, "Dance Mom's Daughter with Daddy Dinner".

btw, nobody says "spell effing *daughter*, op"?

Gotta just shake my head.

I guess we just sell what sells, and it's not right, folks.

Posted 1 year ago #
great idea

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that's just what sells oneder--"Daddy dog-her" for those with a food-fetish.

it was no mistake, just a sick subliminal imperative to sell plates.

Posted 1 year ago #
cdpenne

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Oneder, put down the drink, and try to make sense. Word omission does not equal pith, depth of thought, poetry, meter, rhyme, or any other redeemable semantic quality. You, sir, are babbling, as usual.

The event at the community center is just one of many attempts to include everyone who lives even remotely close. If you aren't ashamed of yourself for your last post, then you are just a pile...

Posted 1 year ago #
onederfullone

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...you are a fan of pile...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6_1Pw1xm9U

I'll pick up my drink and toast you, tyvm.

Posted 1 year ago #
Romanesque

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As a daughter whose dad died when I was just a baby, I can tell you that Cate pretty much nailed how I felt seeing these sorts of events advertised when I was young. I have been pleased to see more of these things with an asterisk after the title and down below the flier would say that mothers and sons were welcome too. It sells more tickets and raises more money. How can that be bad?

Posted 1 year ago #
angeline

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Romanesque, I like your solution. Way better than making every event generic from the get-go.

I don't think the kids and parents get separated by grade school. We went everywhere with our kids for years, and all the other parents were in attendance at all this stuff, too. Game nights, movie nights, concerts, etc. Very few where kids were welcome without adults with them -- though there were some times we teamed up with another family so one took all the kids and the other parents had a night off. I guess there is lots of kid-only activity during the day, but that is because more parents are working than not.

Now that my kids are in middle school and high school they don't want us along so often, but the middle school at least still has those "bring the family" activities a couple times a year.

Posted 1 year ago #
Edog

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I wonder if they will ever have a daddy doggie dinner?

Posted 1 year ago #