BLOG: Happy Father's Day!

[NateR]

From Matt's blog:

Just wanted to wish all the dads out there a happy Father's Day. I'm always interested in the origin of the holidays we celebrate and I was a bit surprised by what I learned about the origin of Father's Day. The idea for it came to Sonora Smart Dodd back in 1909 after she had listened to a Mother's Day sermon at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church in Spokane, Washington. She chose June 19th (her father's birthday), 1910 to celebrate the very first Father's Day. However, the day was received with mocking and scorn by the general public. It was gaining attention, but for all the wrong reasons and the earliest Father's Day celebrations were marked with jokes, satire, parody and derision of fathers. In 1913, a bill was introduced to make Father's Day officially recognized by the government; but it wasn't until 1972 that Richard Nixon established Father's Day as a permanent national observance day. Fortunately, the day is now for commemorating all the positive aspects of fatherhood (sacrifice, courage, selflessness and love) which is how Sonora Dodd originally envisioned it. I'm sure there is a lesson for us dads somewhere in that story.

Again, Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

[flo]

Well, I'm glad they were persistent until the holiday got the respect it deserved! My dad died in 2005 but I wish Matt and all you great dads on the forum a happy and blessed Father's Day.

happy father's day matt,mark and all the other daddy's on the boards!.xx