The calendar indicates that today is father’s day. Sounds great that a day exists to allegedly honor fatherhood.  Also, we know that the greeting cards and e cards industries along with other retail businesses that provide gifts benefit greatly from this label on the calendar.  However, I used the word allegedly because I do not believe fatherhood is sufficiently appreciated.

Fathering does matter as I was again reminded by a greeting card I received from my adult daughter.  I quote, “You’re the best DaD a daughter could have.  Thank you, Dad, for inspiring me to take risks and believe in myself.”  Whomever wrote this at the greeting card  company “american greetings” really got it right in highlighting how important fathering is in the life of a child.  For both boys and girls fathers are mostly responsible for children taking risks.  Fathers play with children tends to be more physical.  When done with care, children learn that they can take risks safely and this carries through into adulthood.  Since the quoted greeting card came from my daughter it is important to highlight the importance of fatherhood is to females.  Girls who are un-fathered or poorly fathered are far more likely to become pregnant as teens and more likely to get into unhealthy relationships with men.  The validation by a father is an important ingredient for girls in their journey to lead a productive and healthy life.

I have often blogged and won’t repeat the statistics that support the devastating results of a lack of fathering yet we as a society have seemed to forget how important a father is in the life of a child. Let’s honor fatherhood for the other 364 days a year.