Thought #32                                                      June 2009
Author: Bill Thurston

Happy Father's Day!

This year we are celebrating the 100th birthday of Fathers Day!

Father's Day started just a few years after Mother's Day.
Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, of Spokane, Washington, started the tradition of Father's Day in the honor of her dad.

In 1916, US President Woodrow Wilson approved the idea of observing an annual Father's Day. In1924, President Calvin Coolidge made Father's Day a national event. In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon established the Father's Day as a permanently holiday.

Father's Day Gifts

Cards

Father’s Day is the fourth-largest card-sending occasion.
Nearly 95 million Fathers Day cards are purchased.
Husbands, grandfathers, uncles, sons and sons-in-law are honored as well as father.
(Source: Hallmark research)

50% of cards to dads on Father's Day are from sons and daughters. 20% are from wives to husbands. 30% go to grandfathers, uncles, brothers, and other 'special guys.' (Source: Hallmark research)

It has been estimated that more than one-third of the cards sold on Father's Day are funny in nature.

Neckties

The necktie is the most common and famous Father's Day gift.

Flowers

Flowers are the second most common Father's Day gift.

Other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts

Things you may find in dad’s toolbox, such as hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers.

Sports items such as fishing rods and golf clubs.

Miscellaneous Facts

Father's Day originated in America.

Female shoppers spend approximately 50 percent more than men, while buying gifts for their dad.

Official Flower is the rose.

In most of the countries around the world, like USA, UK, India, Canada, China, France, Greece, Japan and even Hong Kong, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June. In Australia, the first Sunday of September is observed as Father's Day, while Finnish people celebrate the festival on the second Sunday of November. In Thailand, 5th December is observed as Father's Day every year.

Some Famous Father Quotes.


"My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."" -Harmon Killebrew

 

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." -Mark Twain

 

"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me." -Jim Valvano

 

"Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys." -Anonymous

 

Census Bureau Information
(some of this information is a little old as the next census will happen next year)

 

There are 66.3 million fathers across the nation today.

There are 26.5 million fathers who are part of married-couple families with their own children under the age of 18.
 http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/003118.html

There are 2.3 million single fathers. Currently, among single parents living with their children, 18 percent are men.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/003118.html

78 million Americans participated in a barbecue in the last year. It’s probably safe to assume many of these barbecues took place on Father’s Day.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009 <
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>, Table 1200

There are estimated 140,000  stay-at-home dads in 2008. These married fathers with children younger than 15 have remained out of the labor force for at least one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wives work outside the home. These fathers cared for 234,000 children. Among these stay-at-home dads, 54 percent had two or more children, and 52 percent had an annual family income of $50,000 or more.
Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2008
<
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/013378.html>

31% of custodial fathers are on public assistance.
Source: Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support
<
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/children/010634.html>

Children ages 3 to 5 were read to by their fathers 6 times in the past week, as of 2006.
Source: A Child’s Day: 2006 <
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/children/013383.html>

66% of children younger than 6 are praised three or more times a day by their fathers.
Source: A Child’s Day: 2006 <
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/children/013383.html

Final Thought

Happy Fathers Day! 

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