Fathers Deserve Their Day
Last updated Saturday, June 17, 2006 8:41 PM CDT in Opinion
It's Father's Day.
In case you forgot, you still have time to call Dad or drop by for a visit and tell him how much you appreciate him.
Unlike some "holidays" promoted in this country, Father's Day wasn't establish as a gift- or card-giving event. In fact there was no official day honoring dads until 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson signed an order establishing the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.
Mother's Day, on the other hand, was made official in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson.
So why the did it take 50 years to get Father's Day official? After all, without fathers there would be no mothers.
It probably has to do with that nurturing thing that mother's do -- and until relatively recently father's weren't credited with doing as well if at all.
However, about the only thing that mothers truly can do better than fathers is carry a baby for nine months and give birth. Dads -- nope, they can't do that.
But dads can feed the baby, change the diapers and walk the floor (when the baby won't sleep or when the teenager has blown curfew). They can cook the meals, go to the parent-teacher conferences and hand over the plastic when new shoes are needed.
They can drive carpool and teach Junior to drive. They can nurse the boo-boos. They can even sew a button on in a pinch.
Granted most dads may be better at teaching us the finer points of baseball -- when to throw to third instead of home -- or how to change a flat tire, but that's still important stuff to know.
It's unfortunate that the importance of dads wasn't acknowledged until relatively recently. Societal changes -- moms working outside the home and single-parent families among them -- led to the realization that dads play an important role in the development of kids. And if the biological dad isn't around, it is important for a man to take some of a father figure's responsibility.
Fathers.com says people are more likely to be confident, mature and compassionate, self-confident, sociable, adaptable, independent and able to deal with frustration if dad played an active role in their lives.
So thank Dad today -- he helped make you what you are.
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