Happy Father’s Day

The idea of Father’s Day was conceived slightly more than a century ago by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a farm. A day in June was chosen for the first Father’s Day celebration — 101 years ago, June 19, 1910, proclaimed by Spokane’s mayor because it was the month of Smart’s birth.

The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Father’s Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.

FATHER’S DAY TRIVIA (from the U.S. Census Bureau)
70.1 million: Estimated number of fathers across the nation.

25.3 million: Number of fathers who were part of married-couple families with children younger than 18 in 2010.

1.8 million: Number of single fathers in 2010; 15% of single parents were men, and 9% were raising three or more children younger than 18. About 46% were divorced, 30% were never married, 19% were separated, and 6% were widowed. Also, 39% had an annual family income of $50,000 or more.

8,111: The number of men’s clothing stores around the country (as of 2008).

16,010: The number of hardware stores (2008), a place to buy hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers and other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts. Additionally, there were 7,009 home centers across the country in 2008.

22,116: Number of sporting goods stores in 2008. These stores are good places to purchase traditional gifts for dad, such as fishing rods and golf clubs.

154,000: Estimated number of stay-at-home dads in 2010. These married fathers with children younger than 15 have remained out of the labor force for at least one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wives work outside the home. These fathers cared for 287,000 children.

16%: In spring 2005, the percentage of preschoolers regularly cared for by their father during their mother’s working hours.

$2.8 billion: Amount of child support received by custodial fathers in 2007; they were due $4.3 billion. In contrast, custodial mothers received $18.6 billion of the $29.8 billion
in support that was due.

45%: Percentage of custodial fathers who received all child support that was due in 2007, not significantly different from the corresponding percentage for custodial mothers.

53% and 71%: Percentages of children younger than 6 who ate breakfast and dinner, respectively, with their father every day in 2006. The corresponding percentages who ate with their mother were 58% and 80%. (The percentages of children who ate breakfast with their mother or father, respectively, were not significantly different from each another.)