Should we celebrate fathers?
The importance of a father cannot be overemphasised. He is the leader and anchor man in the family as he stabilises and builds his family by directing, providing, organising, inspiring and influencing the activities of the family.
Advertisement
Children with a father in the home have a better cognitive achievement and better behavioural outcomes. A father’s association with his adolescent children results in higher levels of performance, lower levels of behavioural problems and depression. A father’s love is just as important as a mother’s love and sometimes more so.
Fathers, therefore, play important roles in the life of their children and these spill over to improve the family and society.
Should we celebrate Father’s Day?
Mother’s Day is a celebrated event in the whole world, third only to Christmas and Valentine. Father’s Day is not celebrated with the same enthusiasm because many fathers do not have the same sentimental appeal that mothers have. Many men are just sperm donors and hardly get involved in the lives of their children.
They limit fatherhood to paying ‘chop money’ and are never there for their children and are total strangers to their own children. Many children, therefore, have nothing positive to remember about their fathers and find nothing to celebrate about them.
For example, three years ago, a medical officer in the US sent gifts to his divorced parents. His mother is rich but he sent her $3,000. His father is very poor but he sent him $40! His message is clear; while his mother sacrificed everything for him to be what he is today, his father was never there for him.
The Good Book, however, commands you to honour your father; whether he was there for you does not matter. Maybe your father’s neglect gave you the motivation to move on. If nothing at all celebrate your father because he is the reason for your life.
It is also a fact that anything not celebrated exits our lives. Therefore, we must celebrate fathers to encourage them to be more alive to their responsibilities.
Today we see many fathers getting involved in their children’s welfare. They help prepare their children to school, help with homework, play with them, take them out and hold their little children in public when mothers are busy. Make your father a hero today to get the best out of him.
How to celebrate Father’s Day
Make time for your father. Go down memory lane and talk about the good and the bad, happy and sad moments, the bad things you did behind him, the fun, jokes, nicknames. Thank your father for everything he had done for you, good or bad because they all added up to make you what you are today.
Send a gift, especially something you know will be very useful to him. A new smartphone, flat screen TV, water dispenser and money for anything he prefers to get will make your father proud.
Always remember that gifts are signs of love and goodwill. Gifts also increase intimacy because when you give to your father, he feels loved, valued and appreciated.
You may also go out with your father for a meal or visit his friends and relatives. Remember that fatherhood is not about biology but about love and care. Celebrate any man who has played a fatherly role in your life. If your father has passed on, you may give something to charity.
If you have a lifestyle such as substance abuse and it worries your father, this is the best time to resolve to give it up.
If your father has done anything against you, this is the time to pray for him and forgive him. If you do not forgive your father your Father in heaven will not forgive you. Forgiveness is a miracle cure for all the challenges in your life.
Let us all remember that it takes mothers and children to be fathers.The celebration of Father’s Day must, therefore, be a celebration of all humanity.
Let us resolve to love and care for each other. Happy Father’s Day!