The School …or pre-school, long daycare, community … Father’s Day Stall.
It’s not long until Father’s Day in Australia – Sunday September 1.
How does your child know about Father’s Day? Is it the glossy ads on TV or seen out and about? Or is your child unsure what Father’s Day is for?
I’m very aware that some children do not have regular contact with their fathers – in single-parent families, families where parents are separated for many reasons, and in cases where they may never have met their father.
I’m sure that here and now is not anyone’s place to talk further about a sensitive topic, such as a dad who is never there, a daddy who may not come home again or a father who is in the child’s life on some occasions.
For those children Father’s Day Stalls at the school they attend may serve as another reminder that life for them is different.
But, I am here to let you know how many schools often create places on their stalls for those kids. No one, especially the parents who make, buy and wrap the presents, wants ANY child to feel different.
This means there will be options on the stalls for grandfathers, uncles, friends, stepdads and so on. It means that children can happily shops (usually with Mum’s money!) at the Father’s Day stall for the special ‘male folk’ in their lives.
In some cases of course, you may choose not to participate at all in this buying season at school. It is always your right. No one need make you think otherwise. I am giving parents the chance to see how well their school (and those other organisations) will help your child at this time.
Life these days is NOT like this storybook picture … is it? Let’s take this chance to recognise how much we all do as parents to raise children.
Father’s Day: It’s a busy time around September 1 (or first Sunday in September) for us with family members’ birthdays and wedding anniversaries. I am lucky to have my Dad around (90 in January!) and so we will get together I am sure.
My wish is that the Father’s Day stall at your children’s school (or pre-school) raises much-needed funds for resources for the children and that no child feels ‘left out’ at school (or pre-school) when it’s time for Father’s Day Stall.
Image credit: wavebreakmediamicro/123RF Stock Photo