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WORLD> America
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Dad's changing role recognized on Father's Day
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-14 15:56 CONVENTIONAL NOTIONS
If the realities of modern life undermine conventional notions of fatherhood, even the origins of Father's Day are at odds with the archetype, since the celebration was first designed to honor a man who raised six children single-handed. William Smart, a veteran of the American Civil War, was left alone with his six children on a farm in eastern Washington state when his wife died giving birth to the youngest. One of his daughters wanted to honor her father's strength and selflessness in raising his family alone, and proposed the idea of Father's Day in 1909. The first U.S. Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington the following year, and is now held on the third Sunday in June each year. Other countries including Canada, Britain, Japan and France also celebrate it on the same day. John Morris, a divorced real estate investor in Kansas City, Mo., doesn't expect to see or hear from his 17-year-old daughter on Father's Day because the two have become estranged amid a dispute between Morris and his former wife over parenting styles. So Morris said he expects his Father's Day to go by "largely unnoticed" except for a few phone calls from fellow members of Fathers.com. But for all the divergences between the realities and ideals of fatherhood, a few core principles of good fathering endure, said Morris. They are: modeling appropriate behavior; coaching -- but not berating - your child in enriching ways to live, and above all, loving them. "However worried you are about the child's life, you should tell them that you love them," he said.
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