Sunday, as everyone knows, is Father’s Day.
It is not easy to become as sentimental about fathers as it is about mothers, who had their own festival some weeks ago.
But our fathers, as the Bible says, begat us, and on a sunny Sunday morning most of us should be grateful for being begotten.
So in homes across the land, we should be able to picture the happy domestic scene — the pitter patter of tiny feet down the passage to the bedroom, the joyful salutations, the unwrapping of parcels and unshaven, paternal jowls creasing into grins of gratitude.
Over the past weeks, the advertisements have reminded us that dad deserves his present.
“Dear Old Dad’s Day” was the slogan.
So when the day arrives, those of us who have helped to maintain the human race may anticipate at least a couple of pairs of socks and a full-on roast lunch with all the trimmings. However, Father’s Day should be celebrated by more than the mere handing over of gifts.
For 364 days in the year he is taken for granted and on the 365th he deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated for all he does.
So my advice this morning is to the begotten and to the wives of the most misunderstood member of every family.
My first suggestion is that the poor chap be allowed to stay in bed for breakfast. Naturally every thoughtful family will excuse their father from his usual Sunday paternal duties and his day will be a happy one if he is allowed to practice all the vices of which he has been cured over long and patient years.
He should be encouraged to be late for lunch and to take an undisturbed post-prandial forty winks.
He should be excused from having to mend the clothes line, from unblocking the kitchen sink, from fixing the catch on the garden gate, from retrieving the cricket ball from the neighbour’s yard, from taking the dog for a walk, from mending junior’s bicycle puncture, from clearing away the supper things and from reading a bed-time story.
If he is handled with tender loving care on his big day, father won’t be over-fussy when he is presented with the bills for his lovely presents!
