More than a century ago, Sonora Smart Dodd began a movement that we now know as “Father’s Day”.  Inspired by a mother’s day sermon the year before, and by her father’s resilience to raise five young children after the death of her mother, Mrs. Dodd carried on a campaign that eventually ended at the White House.

“The widespread observance of this occasion is calculated to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and also to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations…” wrote President Calvin Coolidge in his suggestion that the states observe the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.

“We all need to recognize that fathers are not replaceable in the lives of their kids,” said Todd Agne, FTF Fathering Coordinator.  “Boys learn how to be men from their fathers, and girls learn how a woman should be treated by the way their fathers treat their mothers.  This occasion is the perfect time to honor the men in our lives who have taken on a fathering role.” 

Many churches often hand out red and white roses on Father’s Day to honor all fathers—red roses for those living and white for those deceased.   But the dandelion eventually became the unofficial Father’s Day flower because the more it is trampled on, the better it grows.

First Things First sends a special salute to fathers this year and encourages the families in our community to do the same.