--- title: Congressman's Son Grounded for Dabbing Next to Paul Ryan description: House Speaker Paul Ryan was cordial but mystified when the teenaged son of a new Congressman tried to dab during a family photo-op canonical: https://time.com/4621775/congressmans-son-dab-paul-ryan/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-04T15:38:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:32:24.517Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congressman's Son 'Grounded' After Dabbing in Photo-Op With Paul Ryan og:description: “Are you going to sneeze?” the house speaker asked the teen og:url: https://time.com/4621775/congressmans-son-dab-paul-ryan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6871ab7c47baa4c9/6988b4540a4a2281719cc73e/paul-ryan1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Paul Ryan Swears In Members Of The 115th Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congressman's Son 'Grounded' After Dabbing in Photo-Op With Paul Ryan twitter:description: “Are you going to sneeze?” the house speaker asked the teen twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6871ab7c47baa4c9/6988b4540a4a2281719cc73e/paul-ryan1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congressman's Son 'Grounded' After Dabbing in Photo-Op With Paul Ryan > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 4, 2017 3:38 PM UTC  Newly re-elected House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), holds the Speakers gavel during a session in the House Chamber, January 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. Newly re-elected House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), holds the Speakers gavel during a session in the House Chamber, January 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 4, 2017 3:38 PM UTC House Speaker [Paul Ryan](http://time.com/4621297/paul-ryan-speaker-of-the-house/) was cordial but mystified when the teenaged son of a new Congressman tried to [dab](http://people.com/politics/paul-ryan-congressmans-son-dabbing/) during a family photo-op on Tuesday. “Do you want to put your hand down?” he asked. “Are you going to sneeze?” The teenager eventually acquiesced and gave up his pose, a move popularized by Carolina Panthers quarterback [Cam Newton](http://time.com/4197778/how-cam-newton-became-the-face-of-the-nfl/). “Don’t worry about it,” he told the speaker. Ryan [tweeted](https://twitter.com/SpeakerRyan/status/816422778614194176?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) about the incident later in the day, remarking, “Just finished swearing-in photos. Nearly 300 members. Countless cute kids. Still don’t get what dabbing is, though.” But the young man’s father, newly elected Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall (R) had the last laugh, tweeting out a link to the dabbing story and writing, “Just so you know [@SpeakerRyan](https://twitter.com/SpeakerRyan): He’s grounded.” > [](https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/816402331143118848) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4621775/congressmans-son-dab-paul-ryan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4621775/congressmans-son-dab-paul-ryan/"},"headline":"Congressman's Son 'Grounded' After Dabbing in Photo-Op With Paul Ryan","datePublished":"2017-01-04T15:38:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:32:24.517Z","description":"“Are you going to sneeze?” the house speaker asked the teen","url":"https://time.com/4621775/congressmans-son-dab-paul-ryan/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6871ab7c47baa4c9/6988b4540a4a2281719cc73e/paul-ryan1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6871ab7c47baa4c9/6988b4540a4a2281719cc73e/paul-ryan1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paul Ryan Swears In Members Of The 115th Congress","caption":"Paul Ryan Swears In Members Of The 115th Congress","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4621775/congressmans-son-dab-paul-ryan/","name":"Congressman's Son 'Grounded' After Dabbing in Photo-Op With Paul Ryan"}}]}] ```