<p>I went to prom junior year and didn’t like it at all. Did not go and was not asked senior year. My husband and I have been married for over 25 years and he was prom king at his school.</p>
<p>DD went to her senior prom and thought it was just ok. They came home early and hung out at our house. DS did not have any desire to attend. Different strokes…</p>
<p>Our son didn’t go either. Its really not a big deal!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the posts. They are truly helpful. Now my s faces another disappointment. The English H class has this group project involving community work, filming and documentary. His group fell apart last week with no work completed. According to my son everyone else has found another group to join. The few friends that my son knows don’t need extra people in their group. He talked to his teacher today and she said he (by himself )would still need to turn in the project in two weeks with the same level of work involved. I then emailed and called the teacher and has no response yet. Why a teacher wants to set a student for failure? I feel my son’s pain, being an introvert, he is not likely to ask everyone or post on FB to see if any group still can have him to join. In the same time, he does not think he can complete the work by himself because he works during the weekend. He is not willing to do it by himself either because he did not choose this option from the beginning when he would have enough time to complete the project.</p>
<p>The ‘Prom’ - such a big deal for girls, for boys not so much. At my daughters school several of the boys aren’t going this year, and plenty of the girls are going in groups. She thinks part of it is that boys just don’t care and also they feel obligated to pay for the girls ticket which is quite expensive. As a result lots of kids go stag to take the pressure off.</p>
<p>Your son may still attend prom someday. My oldest S did not attend his senior prom in '06. Absolutely no interest. Now 22, a '10 college grad, he is a teacher at a small private school. Being young, single and new, he has had multiple “volunteer” assignments this year–including spending 11 hours–setting up/decorating, chaperoning, photographing, and cleaning up after prom last weekend. (He sent me his photo at the prom. LOL. Still no date. There are a lot of “young ladies” who have crushes on him–unfortunately most of them are in 7th grade. . .)</p>
<p>RE: Group project. 2 sons still in high school have had similar issues with group projects. I can’t stand group projects! (I tell my kids that the only way to guarantee their grades on group projects is to do all the work themselves. You can’t depend on other students.)<br>
IMO, if the teacher doesn’t change the requirement, he should just do his best to complete the work–as much as he can–on his own. (Maybe you or another family member could help? It is a “group” project, after all 
)</p>
<p>Your son and I are very much alike; I also keep to myself and can be very shy at times. I am not going to my senior prom either. I did go as a junior though. I was in a group of people that I did not know very well, and the entire night was very uncomfortable for me. It is probably the reason I am not going to my senior prom.</p>
<p>I do wish to change my introverted nature in college, however. I plan on getting involved in Greek life and other activities.</p>
@sunnydayfun just curious how you feel about this 5 years later? My son, similar to yours, has just told me he’s not going either. I’m disappointed, but it’s not my prom so…
Can’t see why this is an issue for a parent… it isn’t the parent’s prom.
My son may not go either. He is still debating if he should ask this girl.
It’s a rite of passage in some communities, so I can understand a parent being disappointed not to take part. It sounds like no one’s pressuring their kids, just venting.
I know folks who brought their babies home for the first time and imagined taking prom pictures on the staircase someday. It takes a little adjusting if your kid turns out to be uninterested.
Almost didn’t go to my senior prom because of the expense and feeling it was a huge waste of money. When older relatives found out I wasn’t going, they took up a collection and insisted I go as it was “a once in a lifetime milestone not to be missed”.
Went stag and turned out I had a great time dancing with several women including two who initially turned me down.
Granted, part of what made it memorable was finding a female classmate who was all dressed up and wanted to come, but was barred at the door because some jerk ripped her off by selling her a fake prom ticket*. Glad to have helped a classmate out, take part in a Bondish caper, and pull off one of the last rebellious acts of my HS career. 
A classmate and I figured out a way to distract the ticket guard at the door so she could come in and join us for the festivities.
My daughter didn’t want to go to the prom last year but she went because her boyfriend wanted to go. I think his mother was the most excited one about the whole venture among the two kids and parents. D thought it was a waste of time and money. She wanted to have a nice dinner, see a movie and then play laser tag for a couple of hours (“and it would have cost way less money”). She talked about this all year long. This caused some tension, so D acquiesced to her bf’s preferences. (Truth be told, if it weren’t for the mother, he may have gone for dinner, movie and laser tag)
The mother wanted the kids to ride with some other kids who had hired a bus or limo but D put her foot down. These were not close friends. She did not want to be stuck with them. BF agreed with D and told his mother he would drive.
They went. They had fun but D said it was more fun at the after party. They were very happy to have driven by themselves because they chose who to hang out with, rather than be part of a group of people they knew but who weren’t really friends.
In the end, I felt D enjoyed the experience but more because others enjoyed it and wanted her to be a part of it rather than wanting it herself. That’s a good lesson to learn.
My son is also not attending prom. He has said from the very beginning that he was not going. He has a small group of friends and most are going so I thought that he may change his mind, but no. He and another friend who didn’t want to be “caught up in all of the prom drama” are going to dinner and watching movies back at my house . It’s something that he wanted to do, I’m glad he found someone else that wanted to do it . Many of his guy friends are sorry that they said yes when they were asked by some of their female classmates . Hopefully he enjoys his evening. I understand wanting to avoid the drama. My goddaughter ( very smart, very funny and cute) was ditched one week before her prom. She was up for prom queen. She dressed up and went with the rest of her friends . I don’t know if I could have.
I have a hard time understanding this discussion. I was definitely not the prom-going type! Wouldn’t have occurred to me. My D plans to go to hers but her school is mostly girls and they’ll go as a group. A guess a few of them will have dates.
OP, re group project. I’d have a real problem with a group project where kids were allowed to change groups like this. This teacher needs to get back to you or I think you need to go up ladder. Unless it was originally structured as a solo assignment that could be done as group then this is too much on one kid
My D didn’t go to either of her proms. A group of her girlfriends went to the junior prom together and she just didn’t see the point of spending a bunch of money to see who was the “prettiest”. BTW, it would have been her 
lol. Up to that point, she hadn’t dated at all. Fast forward a month or so and she met her now boyfriend. I feared he would dump her when she refused to go to their senior prom together but apparently he got over it. although I’m not sure if his mother did. I actually feel bad for him, I don’t think anyone should miss their prom if they want to go and I talked to D about accompanying him because maybe it was the right thing to do but she didn’t take the bait. In D’s defense, she offered up her best friend (all three of them are close) but he didn’t want to go without her. He’s still around and he’s getting used to her “quirks”.
My D has always maintained she will not go to prom. The idea of getting all dressed up to go stand with loud music around people she sees every day is completely puzzling to her. She is excited about the school/PTA sponsored after party though.
My DD is going to prom with her group of friends and, I think, her new boyfriend. I think that’s what she calls him, but whatever.
The parents of the whole class are setting up post-prom events/activities to provide a safe and protected location/environment for the kids. They asked for volunteers. My wife made a commitment as a volunteer to staff the check-in table. That same night she committed, my DD says she isn’t going to post-prom. Ugh.
My son didn’t go to his Senior Prom. He was looking forward to going to Grad Night than prom.
Neither my H nor I attended our respective high school proms so we didn’t care all that much if either of our kids went to theirs. I think my S would have happily not attended his last year, but was surprised when he was asked by several girls! That put it on his radar and he did end up going and enjoying himself, but if he hadn’t been asked, I doubt he would have gone or cared.