How many of you Dads have received a tie today? Apparently this is the most popular gift!
Modern day Father’s Day was reputed to have been started by Sonora Smart Dodd, who lived in Spokane,Washington. She was so proud of her father,a civil war veteran, that she proposed a special day in his honour, on June 19th 1910. Since 1972 this has become a public holiday in the USA. In the UK we keep the 3rd Sunday in June as Father’s Day, though others, for example Germany, celebrate Men’s Day on Ascension Day.It appears to be a day for men to go off and get drunk! Of course , the Romans had to get in first – but in their case the day was in February and it was to honour dead fathers.
Recently newspaper headlines have suggested that fathers are not needed, following the vote that a father or male role model is not required for lesbian couples to receive IVF. Somehow I think there must be some male involvement at some point, although the words supportive parenting could exclude a male role model. In our current society supportive parenting is often lacking.
As a child of the manse, my home life revolved around church life and I used to tease my father that I had to make an appointment to see him! It certainly seemed to me that he cared more about his congregation than his children. It was only as I grew older and he retired that it became obvious that the work/ family balance had been painful to him. His own father, a schoolteacher, had spent time during school holidays him which he enjoyed, being away at boarding school during termtime. My father enjoyed the company of his grandchildren though he sadly died when his youngest two were only four and two.
It is good to have a time to reflect on the role of fathers and our relationship and memories of our own. Contrary to those newspaper headlines, fathers are needed.
Liz Dunthorne
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