Here in the United States of America, we have a day set aside for everything and anything you could possibly imagine.
These “holidays” and celebrations bring attention to health issues, relationships, and even food. June is actually “Soul Food” month. Bet you didn’t know that.
Did you know that Sunday, June 12, 2016 is “Loving Day”? That following Sunday is Father’s Day!
However, Father’s Day isn’t always on the 12th of June. It varies, but it is always on the third Sunday of June.
The primary goal of the holiday is to acknowledge and appreciate all the hard working and dedicated fathers and father figures.
Father figures consist of men who have contributed to your life in a positive way. Father figures do not have to be your actual father. Father figures can be fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, uncles, Godfathers, and father-in-laws.
Unfortunately, Father’s Day is not a federal holiday so there is no time and a half if you are on the clock.
Stores do not close or extend hours, they remain on the same schedule as any other Sunday.
Restaurants tend to be a little busier than usual due to people taking their fathers out for a treat.
Typically, many people give cards to their fathers, but common gifts also include: sports items, clothes, electronics, and tools! Just in case anyone needs some ideas, you’re welcome!
A range of events in the past could have inspired fathers Day.
In Monongah, West Virginia, December 1907, many men lost their lives due to a mining accident and that following year a memorial service was held to honor them.
Many of them were fathers. The first time an official Father’s Day was held in the United States was in June of 1910.
Anna Jarvis was the woman who pushed for Mother’s Day; her accomplishments inspired Sonora Smart Dodd.
Dodd became an influential figure in the establishment of Father’s Day. After the death of Sonora’s mother, her father stepped up and raised six girls by himself.
That was extremely uncommon at the time. The late President Nixon finally recognized Father’s Day as a holiday in 1972.
Back in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan, we usually have a party for the appreciated fathers. Since Father’s Day is on Sunday, we usually attend church first.
Children honor their fathers by reciting a poem or even giving them a handmade card or gift. Back to the turn up, block parties are quite popular.
The street is blocked off and we get a DJ, bounce houses, snow cone machines, cotton candy and popcorn makers, and maybe even a few ponies for the kids.
While the adults enjoy good food, drinks, and conversation. Detroit is known for our soul food, just saying.
We eat good for any holiday!
Father’s Day is sacred holidays for us back home because it is hard to find good men who stay to raise the children they help create.
It is important for children to have their fathers in their lives, especially little girls.
The first relationship with a man that a woman has is with her father. If he is non-existent, how will she know what to want or expect in a man?
Women tend to take the relationship and problems they have with their fathers into their personal relationships with their husbands and boyfriends.
Young men need their fathers in their lives to teach them how to be a man because a woman cannot do that.
My mother always told me that in order to better the chances of a great relationship with a boyfriend/husband, better your relationship with your father.
My mother gave me that advice years ago and I have been putting it to use ever since. Men, if you have children, be apart of their lives.
Women, let these fathers be apart of their children lives.
Children need both of their parents. If we can accomplish that as an African American community, we can change the world!
Tammara Ellis is a senior criminal justice major from Detroit, Michigan.