Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Coming Soon...Sunday, June 17

Quality Time...daddy and Zoe (and friends)
History of Father's Day
About 4,000 years ago a young boy named Elmusu wished his Babylonian father good health and a long life by carving a Father's Day message on a card made out of clay. No one knows what happened to Elmesu or his father, but the tradition of having a special day honoring fathers has continued through the years in countries across the world.The Countries, where the Catholic Church were of significant influence on the culture of the society, Father's Day is celebrated on St. Joseph's Day (March 19). However, a more secular celebration which is not associated with any religion is followed in recent times to highlight the increased diversity among people from all over the globe coexisting together in one place.Father’s Day is celebrated popularly on 3rd Sunday in June in many parts of the world. 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, Henry 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 1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. President Nixon, in 1972, established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. So Father's Day was born as a token of love and gratitude that a daughter cherishes for her beloved father. Roses are the Father's Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died.
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Father's Day by the Numbers
This is a big day for the 66.3 million fathers in America.
Nearly 95 million Father’s Day cards were given last year in the United States, making Father’s Day the fourth-largest card-sending occasion.
Sons and daughters send 50 percent of the Father's Day card to their dads. Nearly 20 percent of Father’s Day cards are purchased by wives for their husbands. That leaves 30 percent of the cards which go to grandfathers, sons, brothers, uncles and “someone special.”
While not everyone in America is a fan of Father's Day, 72 percent of Americans plan to celebrate or acknowledge Father’s Day.


Gifts for Father's Day
Neckties are an old standby and lead the list of Father’s Day gifts. A good place to buy dad a tie or a shirt might be one of 9,189 men’s clothing stores around the country.
Other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts include those items you may find in dad’s toolbox such as hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers. You could buy some of these items for dad at one of the nation’s 14,864 hardware stores or 5,795 home centers.Other traditional gifts for dad such as fishing rods and golf clubs make for a happy Father's Day for the 22,410 sporting goods stores in America.
More than 68 million Americans participated at a barbecue in the last year — it’s probably safe to assume many of these barbecues took place on Father’s Day.


Mr. Mom
Mr. Mom is becoming a more common sight at parks across America with 147,000 estimated “stay-at-home” dads. These married fathers with children under 15 years old have remained out of the labor force for more than one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wives work outside the home. These fathers cared for 268,000 children under 15.
The dads seem to stay home more with younger children. Preschoolers claim 20 percent of fathers with employed wives who were the primary caregiver for their preschooler. In contrast, only 6 percent of fathers provided the most hours of care for their grade-school-aged child.
Many families split the responsibility of child care. Many Dad's (32%) with full time jobs regularly worked evening or night shifts and were the primary source of care for their preschoolers during their children’s mother’s working hours.

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