Seven Ways for Dads to Celebrate Father’s Day
This is an appeal to all Dads! Let us make this Father’s Day a time to honor fathers and self-reflect on how we can become even better Dads. Our families need increase dialogue and love, and our communities and society need greater positive change to ensure a life of wellness for our families. Let us commit to unleash our Dad power for love and positive change.
The celebration of Fathers Days in the USA dates back to 1908 in West Virginia when a local Methodist church organized a gathering to honor 360 men, most were fathers who had died in a coal mine explosion seven months earlier. The following year Mrs. Sonora Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane Washington petitioned her minister to honor her father and other fathers with a special church service. The event generated huge support by the YMCA and then proclamations by the mayor and governor. Over the next number of years a movement occurred that finally led to the national proclamation of Father’s Day in 1924, to “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations”
I am a Dad, futurist, and community organizer believing it is our collective responsibility to be our best, enjoy life, and advance the positive change required to ensure a good life for our families and all people. Last week I polled a dozen fathers who I viewed as good Dads and responsible community activists as to their ideas to celebrate Father’s Day. As a result I identified 7 actions that Dads can take to build a Dad’s Power committed to love and positive change.
Seven Ways to Celebrate Father’s Day
- Commit to becoming a better Dad. If you are a Dad take an hour to clarify the greatest hopes you have for your children and families. Most likely, it’s a life of health, happiness and security. Now, honestly consider how you can become a better and more courageous person to advance this vision. Maybe it is by being a more caring, fair, and supportive father; being more involved in electing responsible leaders; and being proactive in finding ways to advance a better society and sustainable Mother Earth for our children.
- Recall your father to honor him. Recall what your Dad did or didn’t do to support your family or your development. Choose to honor his best qualities by consciously committing to take his better values and practices forward. If your recollections are instead about alcohol, cruelty, neglect or abandonment, seek to forgive, let go of the hurt, and clarify how you will be a better Dad or person.
- Honor your true father figures. If it wasn’t your dad that inspired your growth and development, who might I have been? Honor them by thanking them and telling them specifically what about them inspired or supported you. In doing so you inspire them to continue on their path. If they have already passed still via meditation, prayer or thought send them your appreciation. It will be appreciated by their spirit.
- Recognize your growth needs. In recollecting the best or the shortcomings of your father or other father figures, assess how it is that you could grow to become your best person. Maybe it is to bring the family together for meaningful conversations, listen and validate your children, or get involved in your children’s education. In honor of your father or those men who were there for you, commit to become your best person.
- Gather folks together to honor family. This was the greatest desire of all fathers. If it is at all possible, even if we have to practice safe distancing, the greatest desire of fathers was to bring their family together to celebrate being family. Organize a gathering where you can talk about the best of your father, where family can share what they appreciate about Dad, and where family can explore how we can support each other to become our best. If you can’t get together in person, organize a video conference via Zoom.
- Thank your partner or family for supporting you! If you are Dad thank your wife, partner, and family for supporting you. As good as many of us fathers like to believe we are, we have many shortcoming and it is often our families who must be lenient and supportive of us. Thank them for their support.
- Connect with other fathers to learn from each other. Before or after Father’s Day create opportunities to converse with others fathers. Share with them your commitment to be a better Dad and develop your positive power. Share with them your plan to organize a family conversation or what you learned in bringing your family together. Invite them to do the same or to organize their belated family gathering.
While this appeal is going out to all Dads, as a daughter, son, spouse, or mother to a Dad, I invite you to consider how to use these recommendations to honor your father and support his development.
Porvida 