Forgotten Father’s Day?

The story goes that Father’s Day unofficially started around 1910 in Spokane, Washington, when a woman who was raised by her father heard a sermon about Mother’s Day and decided fathers should be recognized as well, according to the Library of Congress. And thus began the tradition of celebrating fathers on a Sunday in June.

But more than 10 years later, on June 7, 1921, The Baltimore Sun revealed that the holiday hadn’t gotten the traction like Mother’s Day had:

“The relative rank of Mother and Father in the social and public estimate of the period seems significantly indicated by the fact that almost everybody forgot that Sunday, June 5 was Father’s Day, whereas Mother’s Day was celebrated with all due reverence in all parts of the country. We believe that even the Old Man himself has forgotten that any such day was ever set apart in his honor … In old times, when he was head of the family, or fancied himself so, he would have considered such a tribute as a natural right and a proper recognition of his merit, importance and sovereignty. But, poor devil, he has learned better in the last generation. He has been taught his proper place in the world, the manifold character of his imperfections, the subordinate role which he really plays…”

A similar sentiment was shared again two years later in 1923 in The Sun: “Though the day was fixed by Congressional action 10 years ago, and though none will question its appropriateness, there yet is lacking the necessary display of sentiment to place the occasion on a par with Mothers’ Day, Boys’ Week and the other periods now held inviolate.

“So dad, who furnishes the money, who gets us out of trouble, who shares our burdens and defends us against every onslaught, must wait another year for that outward manifestation of the love in which he is held and which thus far has failed to rise to public demonstration proportions,” read the June 23 article.

What do you think? Do fathers today get the same love and adoration on Father’s Day as mothers do on Mother’s Day? Share your thoughts in the comments!

And Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

Sources: The Baltimore Sun, June 7, 1921, June 4, 1923; Library of Congress website