PERSPECTIVE
Thoughts on Father’s Day The paternal holiday needs a little respect By Judge Gerald A. Williams North Valley Justice Court
F
ather’s Day often seems to lack the sentimental appeal that often accompanies Mother’s Day. Ironically, Father’s Day originated in part because the daughter of a single father thought only honoring mothers was inappropriate. Sonora Dodd, whose mother died during childbirth, was listening to a church on Mother’s Day. She concluded that her father should receive similar recognition, and because his birthday was in June, she selected a day in June to honor fathers. Her idea slowly caught on. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge issued a proclamation for a day to promote the bond between fathers and their children and “to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations,” which sounds more like a phrase from a court order than the basis for a holiday. Father’s Day was not a national holiday until 1966. That year, President Lyndon Johnson declared that the third Sunday in June would be designated as Father’s Day. President Richard Nixon made this designation permanent in 1972. The importance of fathers has not always been recognized. In family law, there was a concept known as the tender years doctrine. It was based on a belief that women going through a divorce should automatically be given custody of any children younger than 4 years old because women possess a natural ability to nurture that men lack. In 1873, the British Parliament extended this presumption until children turned 16. Until the late 1960s, the tender years doctrine was the child custody standard throughout the United States. Thankfully, every state has replaced it with a gender-neutral best interests of the child standard, where there is no automatic presumption for either the mother or the father. A father is more than merely a second adult who happens to be around children. Men and women are different and parent differently. Children benefit when they have both. While many children of single parents have tremen-
dous success, if you were lucky enough to grow up in a two-parent home, be thankful. Whatever your situation, if you had a father figure in your life, be thankful.
Judge Gerald A. Williams is the Justice of the Peace for the North Valley Justice Court. The court’s jurisdiction includes Anthem and Desert Hills.
Let’s remember our dads Some fathers are better than others. All fathers make mistakes. But hopefully you had a father that you were always able to look up to, no matter how tall you grew. Mark Twain apparently noted, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” This year Father’s Day falls on June 21. Remember it in any way you feel appropriate.
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