Importance of Father's Day Occasion Around the World
On May 20, 2024
Father’s Day is a day to celebrate the men in your life. For children, it is the time to show their appreciation and gratitude to their father and their father figures. For adults, it is the time to show their appreciation and love for all the hard work they do for the family. Though many people celebrate this day, not many know the history behind it. What is more surprising is that this was not initially accepted, but over time, people have warmed up to it and have started celebrating the influence the fathers have had in their lives. For the unversed, read below the importance of celebrating Father’s Day.
Why Is Father’s Day Celebrated?
As per experts, Sonora Smart Dodd, a woman from Spokane, Washington, championed the cause for celebrating Father’s Day. She is considered the founder of this beautiful festival. It is said that she and her five siblings were raised by her widowed father, who was a civil war veteran. Her mother passed away at the birth of her fifth sibling. Since the celebration of Mother’s Day, which was established in 1908, Dodd was keen on initiating an equivalent holiday for fathers to appreciate all that her father did to her family. To promote this idea of celebrating Father’s Day, she visited YMCA and many local churches and met with locals, shopkeepers and officials to get support for starting this new tradition. Finally, her hard work bore fruit and the first Father’s Day was celebrated in 1910 on June 19th.
But despite this, unlike Mother’s Day, this tradition did not gain momentum right away. It took many years before this festival was recognized officially as a holiday. In the years 1916 and 1924, President Wilson and President Calvin Coolidge showed their support with President Coolidge urging states to celebrate it. But it was only accepted as a national holiday in the United States of America many decades later. In 1966, President Johnson signed a proclamation allocating a Sunday falling on the third week of June as Father’s Day. In 1972, during the rule of President Nixon, it got a permanent national holiday observance of Father’s Day.
One of the reasons this day took a long time to become a national holiday was because of no support from men. Many men felt that this holiday, like Mother’s Day, was about gifting and did not believe it to be masculine enough. Some men also believed it was a ploy by the advertisers to trick families into buying gifts. In fact, during the 1920s and the 30s, there was a mass movement to eradicate both Mother’s and Father’s Day and called for replacing it with Parent’s Day, where both Mother and Father were celebrated on the same day. Despite these efforts, Mother’s Day remained on the calendar and Father’s Day got its due later on.
Why Should Father’s Day Be Celebrated?
Despite all the controversy around Father’s Day, society is more aware of the father’s importance in a child’s life. Earlier in the 1900s, fathers did not get much credit for their influence on their children’s lives. Most psychological studies on parenting focused on mothers and their impact on children’s lives. However, all this changed in the 1970s as psychologists realized the father's impact and influence on children’s lives.
Recent studies show that children with a father who is involved in their lives are more confident and emotionally secure and have better social connections as they grow older. Many studies also show that a father’s nurturing and active style is linked to better academic achievements, verbal skills and intellectual functioning. So this essentially means that fathers influence their children socially, emotionally and intellectually. Even during times of crisis, children with an involved father regulate their feelings and behavior better than those whose fathers are not present in their lives.
While mothers are believed to be primary caregivers, times are changing and with more opportunities for women in the workplace, fathers are getting more involved in children’s lives instead of focusing only on meeting the needs of the family. Fathers today not only provide for their families but also help with household work and spend time with children. So you must celebrate such a person in your life. Sometimes, your father may not be around. If your father has passed away or is absent, you can still honor that male mentor who is a father figure to you. Think about any man who has influenced you positively, which can be your grandfather, coach, teacher, uncle, or friend, and celebrate Father’s Day with him.
How To Celebrate Father’s Day?
There are many ways to celebrate this day. You can purchase unique and thoughtful gifts, do their favorite activity, or spend a day with them. Another way to celebrate this day is to host a get-together for all the father figures in your life and show them your appreciation and love.
Conclusion
People think of mothers as emotional and sentimental, but fathers too, like to be appreciated and loved by their children. Father’s Day is the perfect day to show them how you feel about them.
Related Topics
- Can Your Forehead Reveal Your Personality Traits?
- Benefits of Rahu-Ketu Shanti Homam
- Magha Nakshatra Shanti Homam and Its Benefits
- Nainativu Nagapoosani Amman Temple
