Dads need recognition every day

  • Saturday, June 14, 2014 6:24pm
  • Opinion

It is time again to celebrate the bonds between children and their fathers and the paternal influence in our lives.

It can be hard to do, but we encourage children to put down the “World’s Greatest Dad,” mug for a second and think about how important it was to have a father, or father-figure around. Look beyond the Hallmark-card feel of the holiday and consider the advice and support given by your fathers over the years.

It can be hard to do through the din of commercials touting the upcoming holiday and intrusive store displays of hand-tools, shaving kits and dark leather accessories designed to be purchased and given as a once-a-year reminder of the appreciation that father’s get for their role in society.

It isn’t enough.

Fathers don’t need to be reminded once a year that they are appreciated. They need constant encouragement and celebration for what should be viewed as an equal role in the family unit.

Too often fathers are portrayed in the media as bumbling idiots, incapable of carrying out the simplest of domestic duties and only good for entertaining children as they cannot parent to the same rigorous standards as the women around them.

It reinforces a stereotype that deepens perceived divisions between genders. Having just one day to recognize the things that fathers do upholds that stereotype, cheapening the sentiment conveyed to fathers and allowing the children doing the honoring to forget about their fathers for the rest of the year.

While it is endearing to see a father bring his new baby home from the hospital, play a guest in a bedroom tea-party, sit patiently through getting his toenails painted, teach his children how to ride bicycles and cheer for his child from the sidelines of a football game — it is far more important to recognize and support them as equals in the task of raising children.

Men should be expected to change diapers, do dishes, fold laundry and comfort their children just as women do. But, in order to convey those expectations, we need to understand that having one day for dads is not enough. We need to celebrate them for the other 364 and set the standard that men are capable of being, and should be, just as important in the lives of their children as the women who bore them.

Dads need to be recognized every day for doing dad things — and they need to be expected to hold themselves to the same high standards of parenting that moms are often expected to uphold.

We hope this Father’s Day — and every day after — you’ll remind your dad of his importance in your life. He needs it.

More in Opinion

Logo courtesy of League of Women Voters.
Point of View: Tell your representatives SAVE Act is not needed

The SAVE Act will disenfranchise Alaska voters and make the process of voting much more restrictive.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks at a town hall meeting in the Moose Pass Sportsman’s Club in Moose Pass, Alaska, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Rep. Justin Ruffridge speaks during a town hall meeting hosted by three Kenai Peninsula legislators in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: HB 161 — Supporting small businesses

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

The Swan Lake Fire can be seen from above on Monday, Aug. 26, 2019, on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Alaska Wildland Fire Information)
Point of View: Fire season starts before Iditarod ends

It is critical that Alaskans exercise caution with anything that could ignite a fire.

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, March 25, 2025. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
Point of View: Wake up America

The number one problem in America is our national debt resulting from the inability to control federal spending.

Snow collects near the entrance to the Kenai Community Library on Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Libraries defend every American’s freedom to read

Authors Against Book Bans invites you to celebrate National Library Week.

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks during a town hall meeting hosted by three Kenai Peninsula legislators in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Preparing for wildfire season

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

Alaska State House District 7 Rep. Justin Ruffridge participates in the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL 91.9 FM candidate forum at the Soldotna Public Library on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Putting patients first

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks at a town hall meeting in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, March 1, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Building better lives for Alaskans

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman reports back from Juneau.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy compares Alaska to Mississippi data on poverty, per-pupil education spending, and the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress fourth grade reading scores during a press conference on Jan. 31, 2025. Alaska is highlighted in yellow, while Mississippi is in red. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Opinion: Freeing states from the ‘stranglehold’ of the U.S. Department of Education

The USDOE has also been captured by a political ideology that has been harmful to education in America.

Alaska State House District 7 candidate Rep. Justin Ruffridge participates in the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL 91.9 FM candidate forum at the Soldotna Public Library on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Building a culture of reading

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.