MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- For one night, the boys of Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary School assumed the role of 'man of the house' and escorted their mothers to the school’s second annual Mother Son Dance Feb. 10.
About 200 male students strutted in looking slick in slacks holding their mothers' fingertips.
“For them to escort their moms is really special,” said school principal Lynn Gilstrap.
Many of the boys fathers are deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the dance was a chance for sons to bond with their mothers.
The event dubbed the ‘Sweetheart Dance’ had sweets, punches and featured a live disc jockey.
“Events like this are healthy for the families and the children,” said disc jockey Army Staff Sgt. Hector Gonzalez, father of sixth grader Ernesto Gonzalez.
An interest for the dance arose after the father-daughter dance last year.
“After the father daughter dance, (moms) wanted to know, ‘when’s our turn,’” Gilstrap said. “We wanted to give (moms) an opportunity to socialize with other women and wives (because) it’s a whole different world when their husbands are deployed.”
The dance also had a photographer on site so moms could take home pictures of the memories.
“One mom got double pictures and I said, ‘the pictures are beautiful,” Gilstrap said. “ She said, ‘one is for my husband, I’m going to sneak it in his duffel bag.’”
Gilstrap also recalled another mother's comments during the dance.
“One of the moms said, ‘ I don’t sleep well with space next to me,’” Gilstrap said. “She said, now she and her son could get a good night sleep because they were so tired from the night of dancing.”
“(The dance) was great because I usually don’t get to do this,” said Cpl. Veronica Torralba, single mother of two.
Torralba said she wouldn’t have missed the dance for anything.
“It doesn’t matter how tired I am, I had to come because it’s time for Jesse and me,” said Torralba, mother of first grader, Jesse Gamboa.
“ It was fun dressing up and having fun with my mommy,” said Jesse who was dressed in a beige two-piece suit.
Torralba said events like these have lasting effects on children.
“It’s important to them because kids are going to go to school on Monday asking, ‘was your mom there,’” Torralba said.
Gilstrap said the dance was just another part in accomplishing the school’s goal of increasing interaction between student, parents and the faculty.
“We want this to be the neighborhood school by making a connection with the family and events like this make that connection,” Gilstrap said.