My Father, My Hero

When I was a little girl, all I wanted to do was be like my father. He was my hero, my inspiration, the person I went to when I wanted a new pretty toy. Today, 20 years later, not much has changed. My father is still the one I go to whenever I’m in trouble or I need advice, even though I buy my own pretty toys now.

Father’s Day is a reminder to all of us of the roles our fathers have played in our lives. They’ve built treehouses, taught us how to ride bicycles, come to our football matches and ballet recitals, and watched us grow. They’ve always put our needs before their own, and they’ve taught us to be better people. Father’s Day is a great occasion to return the favour.

Father’s Day first came into being in 1910, because of Sonora Smart Dodd, who started celebrating the day in honour of her father, William Smart. Sonora was from Arkansas. Her father William Smart, a war veteran who raised six kids with his eldest daughter Sonora’s help, was the first father to be ever honoured on Father’s Day. Sonora wanted Father’s Day to be on June 5th, her father’s birthday, but the Church Alliance didn’t have enough time to prepare, so they chose the 3 rd Sunday of June instead. And that day stuck. Celebrated by presidents Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon Johnson as well as Richard Nixon, Father’s Day has become an institution, a day that is celebrated world over as the day to honour your fathers and let them know just how much they are loved and appreciated.

So spend Father’s Day with your father, cooking for him, talking to him, or simply take him out to dinner and a movie with your mom. Buy him a present – a bottle of his favourite Scotch, DVDs for his favourite classic movies, a silk tie, a car – whatever you can afford and think will bring a smile to his face. Go ahead and spoil him! You know he deserves it.