Prom night – the expense ABC News, by ALEXA VALIENTE (April 27, 2013) “The cost of going to prom -- the perfect dress or tuxedo, a limo, and pre-dance festivities -- has risen to a nationwide average of $1,139. That figure represents a 5 percent increase from the $1,078 in 2012 that American families who have a teenager attending a prom spent on all aspects of the dance.”

Prom night – the expense US News and World Report, by Allie Bidwell (April 21, 2014) The nationwide survey conducted by Visa claims the prom bubble has burst after three years of steady increases, from 2011 to 2013. The average household will spend $978 in 2014 to dance the night away.

Prom night – the plea and promises Family Education, “The Senior Prom and Drinking by Alvin Poussaint, M.D. and Susan Linn, Ed.D. “Don’t worry, mom, I can handle it.” “Prom night has been seen, in recent years, as a drinking rite of passage for some adolescents.” “Discussions throughout childhood and adolescence.” The Scene Your 18-year-old daughter and her date are invited to a pre-prom party at a friend's and several post-prom parties. You want her to have a wonderful time, but you're worried about her drinking. When you raise the issue with her, she rolls her eyes. "Don't worry, mom," she says. "I can handle it.“ The Facts Talking with kids about drinking on prom night should be part of an ongoing conversation with them about the hazards of drinking. Recent statistics only affirm parents' concerns about teenage consumption of alcohol — and prom night has been seen, in recent years, as a drinking rite of passage for some adolescents. Unfortunately, many adults turn their backs on — or indulge in underage drinking, especially around special events like the prom. Some parents feel they have little to worry about as long as their kids aren't driving. Discussions and limit-setting around alcohol consumption need to take place throughout childhood and adolescence.

Prom night – the plea and promises The dangers of alcohol 1 Peter 4:3 Rom. 13:12-14 1 Thess. 5:5-8 1 Peter 4:3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. Romans 13:12-14 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (13) Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. (14) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. (6) So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (7) For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. (8) But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

Prom night – the DANCE Whatever else the Prom may be and whatever else may happen at the Prom, it is first and foremost a DANCE. Whatever usually happens at a dance will happen at the prom. Temptation and pressure will be on your child to conform.

Prom night – the DANCE Sensuality (Lewdness) Eph. 4:17-20 Gal. 5:19-21 Lewdness defined: “1) unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, – "wanton (acts or) manners, as filthy words, indecent bodily movements, unchaste handling of males and females, etc." (Thayer) Eph. 4:17-20 Gal. 5:19-21 Ephesians 4:17-20 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (18) They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. (19) They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (20) But that is not the way you learned Christ!-- Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, (20) idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, (21) envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Prom night – the plea and promises The power of temptation – James 1:14-15 The power of peer pressure – 1 Cor. 15:33 Immaturity of youth – 1 Cor. 13:11 Parents should know better than to trust their children – Eph. 6:4 James 1:14-15 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (15) Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals." 1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.