DEAR DADDY

Father's Day is a celebration of fathers inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting.

After the success obtained by Anna Jarvis with the promotion of Mother's Day in the US, some wanted to create similar holidays for other family members, and Father's Day was the choice most likely to succeed. There were other persons in the US who independently thought of "Father's Day," (Meyer, 1971:185) but the credit for the modern holiday is always given to Sonora Dodd (Larossa, 1997:172).




Father's Day was founded in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Arkansas from Spokane, who was also the driving force behind its establishment. Its first celebration was in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910 (www3.kumc.edu).

Her father, a Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who reared his six children in Spokane, Washington (Leigh, 1997:276).

After hearing a sermon about Jarvis' Mother's Day in 1909, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honouring them (Leigh 1997:276).

 Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, the pastors hadn't enough time to prepare their sermons, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June (Meyer, 1972:185).

Today I remember my dad who departed this world on 19 June 1994. It was a Sunday I would not forget in a hurry.

He was a man amongst other men who loved his children and would not hide it in anyway. He instilled discipline in me in the best possible way he could, even though he knew I did not like discipline. He would go ahead to discipline me each time I was out of line.

No wonder the bible says: “Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesian 6:4).

He thought me three things through discipline: integrity, honour and hard work. Thanks daddy. I wish you are here today to celebrate with us. I missed you.

If you are reading this blog, I want you to take good care of your parents – fathers and mothers, and do not reject their teachings about life because you would miss their teachings when they are no longer there for you.

Happy Father’s Day.