Parents' Day

That Parent's Day was not there even two decades back would come as a surprise to many. Yet it is a fact that it was only in 1994 that the holiday got an official acceptance in the U.S.A.

It is hard to pinpoint the exact time when the idea of having a Parent's Day was really born. However, the holiday can be said to stem from the eternal human desire to honor and appreciate parents - those special beings upon whom lie the foundation of a new generation, whose enormous effort results in the creation of a better species of humankind that can show a new direction to the world.

In the U.S.A., Parent's Day was born out of a united effort of several religious, civic and elected leaders, who felt the need of an occasion to promote responsible parenting in the society, to highlight the important roles parents have in the successful raising of their children and to uphold the ideal parental role models for the benefit of the new generation.

Parent's Day was officially established in 1994 with the sincere efforts of the then US President Bill Clinton. During his presidential term in White House, Clinton felt that despite having a Father's Day and a Mother's Day that honored fathers and mothers individually there existed a void. Raising children in a proper way requires the presence and combined endeavor of both parents and hence there needed to be an occasion that appreciated parents collectively. The President strived to establish Parent's Day and this was realized when he signed into law a resolution for "recognizing, uplifting, and supporting the role of parents in the rearing of children." This resolution was cohesively adopted by the U.S. Congress. It would establish the American celebration of Parent's Day on the fourth Sunday of every July.

Today, Parents' Day is observed in the U.S. annually on the fourth Sunday of every July. It is also celebrated in many other countries such as the Republic of Korea, Vietnam and India. Irrespective of where it is held, it is an occasion for children to express their gratitude and appreciation for parents and acknowledge their untiring efforts in bringing them up.

When you feel like breaking down or crashing in,
Who do you turn to, to forgive your sin?
When you cried your lonely tears,
Who will be there to fight your fears?
And when it feels like no one would understand,
Who was there to hold your hand?

There are people whom you can't replace,
They're the ones who gave you your face.
They'll love you through thick and thin,
They show you the light from deep within.
And if by chance, you happen to die,
They'll be the ones who will really cry.

You see, my friend, there's no one who can love you more,
Than your very own parents, that's for sure.
Always remember that this is true,
That wherever you go, your parents will be there for you.

The Holiday Spot - History of Parents' Day

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Father's Day

The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.

Having been raised by her father, William Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

In 1926, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City. Father's Day was recognized by a Joint Resolution of Congress in 1956. In 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. So Father's Day was born in memory and gratitude by a daughter who thought that her father and all good fathers should be honored with a special day just like we honor our mothers on Mother's Day.

The excert below is from the Silver Anniversary Book on Father's day published in 1935. I would like to thank William Jackson Smart's great granddaughter, Bonnie, for sharing this with me.

"This year, 1935, the Silver Anniversary of Fathers' Day is being observed. Thirty-seven years ago, in the Big Bend hills of Washington, the day had its nativity in a lonely farm dwelling. There Sorrow ministered amid the moaning of the March winds.

A father sat with bowed head in his aloneness. About him clung his weeping children. The winds outside threw great scarfs of powdered snow against the window panes, when suddenly the last born tore himself from the group and rushed out into the storm calling for his mother. Yet even his baby voice could not penetrate the great silence that held this mother.

Hurriedly, the father gathered him back to his protection and for more than two decades, William Jackson Smart, alone, kept paternal vigilance over his motherless children.

This poignant experience in the life of Mrs. John Bruce Dodd of Spokane, Washington, who was then Sonora Louise Smart, was the inspiration for Fathers' Day which materialized through the devotion of this father and the father of her own son, John Bruce Jr., born in 1909. Through the observance of the love and the sacrifice of fathers about her everywhere, her idea of Fathers' Day crystallized in 1910, through a formal Fathers' Day petition asking recognition of fatherhood."

Father - Morning Glow

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