HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

Father’s Day is a celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother’s Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father’s Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving, special dinners to fathers, and family -oriented activities.

The first observance of Father’s Day is believed to have been held on July 5, 1908 in a church located in Fairmont, West Virginia, by Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia at the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South of Fairmont. The church still exists under the name of Central United Methodist Church.

Statistics shows that many children are growing today without fathers or male figures in their lives. What are the long negative effects?

My father died when I was twelve and watched my mother struggle to raise twelve children alone. She never remarried which is a cultural norm. When a woman looses her husband through death, she is expected by society to remain single, raise her children and be productive in the society. Watching my own life after a short marriage of eighteen months, I raised my children alone and never remarried.  There are times I have wondered what would have been.  My girls are grown now. They will probably share the effects of absent father, but I had very loving and caring brothers and cousins who literally raised them.  The question that comes to mind is: The Doting Father; The Distant Father; The Demanding/Supportive Father; the Domineering Father; the Abusive Father; The Absent Father. Which one would be best for a child to grow up with?