Dads are used to being the Rodney Dangerfield of parents. We don’t get no respect. Our culture is filled with reminders like Parenting Magazine’s tagline: “What matters to moms”.
Father’s Day provides the ultimate salt in the wound. BusinessWeek reports that in 2005, consumers spent $11 billion on Mother’s Day vs $8 billion on Father’s Day.
Take a guess when is the busiest collect call day of the year. Yup, we make dads foot the bill to talk to their kids on Father’s Day.
Personally, I don’t need or expect a big production on Father’s Day. Just let me stay in bed until 7am, eat my meals sitting down at a table, and let me watch the last hour of the U.S. Golf Open.
I suspect most of my audience will vote for “Equal” in the poll. I also expect there will be some, probably the dads, who say Mother’s Day is the bigger holiday. I doubt there will be any votes for Father’s Day as the bigger holiday.
[poll=20]
OK, I just lost my last comment because I am too unintelligent to decipher the code I am supposed to type in the special little block below. This probably discredits my comment altogether, but Here Goes!
I understand that the statistic on spending does imply that no one cares as much. I myself worked in a Hallmark Store for 5 years and I can tell you, Mothers’ Day was a MUCH bigger deal.
In addition, I am not a parent, so I can’t say how it is in my family.
BUT !!!
I believe that Fathers’ Day IS as big as Mothers’ Day. The big differentiator, I believe, is that many Dads get MAD when their families go out and spend money on them. Most of them just want a special day … of golf, hanging with the buddies at the pool hall, or tinkering in the yard or garage.
That’s my 2 cents. Either way, Happy Fathers’ Day, Suburban Daddy!!
I vote Mother’s Day, because a happy wife equals a happy life.
If the breakfast served to the honoree is any indication, Father’s Day.
In our house for Mom: bagels, cream cheese, coffee, juice.
In our house for Dad: some kind of breakfast casserole or breakfast burritos or something that requires some kind of, you know, cooking!
I think the $3 billion disparity in gift spending is due to so many mothers getting jewelry. It’s frequently more expensive than things you’d buy for Dad!
Fathers are the joke of our society, except when people want us to jump in to ensure there are 2 parents. I wonder how long it will take for the cycle to swing the other way back in our favor again? It seems only the media will decide.
John,
What makes you say this?
I don’t really care about Father’s Day, but I do find irksome the whole presumption that anyone who cares about parenting is a mom.