Father's Day

Time again to skip out on doing anything creative for your dad and just give him a gift card to the local hardware store! Seriously though, that's all we sold at my place of employment today: gift cards. Father's Day is by no means as popular as Mother's Day. It is also far less commercialized. No need to buy your dad flowers or get an expensive card covered with beautiful artwork. All dad's want is a little recognition. Maybe a kind word, or a free meal at Cracker Barrel. Why Cracker Barrel? I'm pretty sure all fathers love that place. It's a requirement once you have kids. The best thing you can do? Just spend some time with him. He helped (?) raise you and just wants to spend some time with you, whether it be playing a game or just sitting in the family room watching the History Channel. Dads are far more easy to please than moms. You have to put a bit more effort in for moms. That day is over with though...for now. How did Father's Day come about though?

Father's Day basically came around the same time as Mother's Day. It's first celebration can perhaps be traced back to Fairmont, WV in 1908. It was organized by Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton, who wanted to celebrate the lives of the 210 fathers who had been lost in the Monongh Mining disaster that took place a few months beforehand. The celebration was overshadowed by other events in the city and it wasn't celebrated again. Bummer. Enter Sonora Dodd, who basically stole all of Clayton's thunder. She created her own independent celebration of fathers and eventually a bill was presented to congress to make the holiday officially recognized. President Wilson even went to Spokane, where Dodd was from, and spoke at the Father's Day celebration there, hoping to make it official. Congress was hesitant. They didn't want the holiday to become commercialized like Mother's Day. Coolidge also supported the holiday, but stopped short of asking Congress. It was President Johnson who finally proclaimed Father's Day on the third Sunday of June. It would take another six years for it to be signed into law and made into an official national holiday however, being signed by President Nixon. Geez, even no-brainer bills take forever to be turned into laws.

Since Father's Day is not terribly commercialized, there has not been major call to destroy the whole thing like with Mother's Day's creator. It is more for getting a simple gift like a tie or book for your old man and to show him that you appreciate him. So take some time out for your dad and have a good Father's Day! Especially if you are a dad yourself.