Father’s Day is celebrated every June globally to recognize the contribution, efforts, and sacrifices that fathers and fatherly figures made in the lives of the children and the entire family. Although it is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide, many countries observe this day on the third Sunday in June.
This unique yet significant day embraces to honor fatherhood and paternal bonds and the active involvement of fathers in society – in order to acknowledge their engagement and contribution in child rearing.
The importance of father cannot be neglected or ignored at all, and he is the superhero who is always ready to take on the everyday troubles of his children. Fathers play an important role in a child’s life – they stand by them through thick and thin and help them achieve the best in life. Fathers play a central role in children’s development and have a powerful impact on their social and financial well-being and holistic health. Well-fathered children are shown to be more emotionally intelligent and socially successful as adults.
The meaning of parenthood is part of a vast set of concepts that have been modernized and changed in the last few decades. As the meaning of motherhood has broken the shackles of a stereotyped woman whose responsibilities are confined to the realms of the house, the limitation of a father’s role as a financial support and security provider has also come into question. Fathers are now considered as much a primary caretaker as mothers, and the importance of their role in the physical, mental, and social lives of their children’s lives is given its due importance since the 1990s. Any child needs the love, affection, and attention of both, a male and a female figure for healthy growth and development.
In modern-day Pakistan, fathers face a challenge. Fathers make innumerable sacrifices to ensure their children get the optimum opportunities, education, sense of security, and as many comforts of life as is within their grasp. Bound by the conventionalized role of a man in society, fathers are in many cases not able to be expressive and emotionally available to their children. Many men feel like they are supposed to be pillars of strength and symbols of composure and hence they are less able to show how they truly feel about their children.
A concept in old Indo-Pak was that a father must “see” his children but not “hear” them. This meant that children showed be reserved in front of their fathers and the fathers should not involve themselves directly in the everyday life of their children. However, with social media advocacy for the importance of breaking gender stereotypes and acknowledging as well as processing emotions for the well-being of the individual and society, expressiveness and engagement of fathers is now more appreciable. Previously coerced by instincts, the love of a father was only seen through cracks in composure and their actions. This has relatively improved now and as sensitive creatures, most children understand this dilemma and acknowledge that their fathers have made more sacrifices than they let on.
Studies have shown that children with involved, caring fathers are more likely to be emotionally secure and perform better academically – also have better emotional intelligence quotient than the families where the division of role is dominant by one parent. The active and nurturing style of fathering has positive outcomes on the children like better verbal skills, confidence, social connections, and intellectual functioning. There are many ways for acknowledging the unconditional love, everlasting support, and remarkable sacrifices offered by the fathers. Some good gestures of thankfulness can be:
• Make a super healthy breakfast for your dad, take him for a good walk , go for a scoop of ice-cream
• Write a letter to your dad and tell him how much you love and appreciate his leadership and felicitations in your life
• Video messages, emails and facetime are easy if the father is at the distance and not physically around the child and family
• Plan the day with your dad and share the achievements, hardships, successes, and goals to be achieved together as a family unit
• Try to express your thankfulness in kind words with a warm hug and a big ‘Thank You” card is the ultimate way to express your appreciation.
• Share a fond memory with them. It’s always fun to take a trip down memory lane. Remind your parents about something they did that meant a lot to you or tell them a story about your favourite childhood moments.
This Father’s Day take every opportunity to celebrate their contribution in our lives. Thank you to all the fathers, male parenting, and fatherly figures for celebrating their day. Special gratitude for all your kindness, efforts, commitment which has solidified the resolve in raising better children’s.
Dr Fatima Shafiq- Dean’s Clinical Research Fellow, Aga Khan University- and Ms. Mohsina Gujrati – Nurse Navigator Home Health, Aga Khan University are the co-authors of this blog
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