Signs He Can Be A Good Dad

     With Father’s Day fast approaching, it’s no surprise that your dear old dad is on your mind. But if you’re also looking forward to the day when you can give your significant other a Father’s Day card, too, you might want to evaluate his parenting potential. What can you tell now about whether he’ll be a great father down the line? Check out these telling traits.

1. He treats his mother well. What kind of family man will he be? First look at his relationship with his mom. Does he respect her? Laugh with her easily? Enjoy visiting her? Help out with chores or errands? “If the answer is yes, all of this means she did a good job raising him, he naturally likes women, and will like the mom you will become,” says Wendy Allen, Ph.D., a psychotherapist specializing in couples and marriage therapy in Santa Barbara, CA. In fact, respect in general — to other family members, to kids, and to you — should be at the top of the “what to look for” list.

2. He’s selfless. What’s the number one thing you learn when you become a parent? You never come first anymore! So if you’re with a guy who thinks he’s the center of the universe, beware. For Jackie Baker, a Valdosta, GA, mother of one, it was easy to see she wasn’t dating an egomaniac when she found out that he’d spent much of his time caring for his 17-years-younger sister. “One of his major responsibilities was to take care of her in the afternoon when he came home from school,” she says. “He didn’t really go on dates or get to hang out with his friends. I thought, any teenage boy who is willing to give up his time for his sister is a great man. Even to this day he helps out with his sister’s homework whenever he can. I knew when I saw him taking such an interest in his family that he was going to be a wonderful father.”

3. He’s not easily grossed out. Surprise! Kids are messy. There are dirty diapers, vomit — and dirty diapers and vomit happening at the same time. Being a parent means getting comfortable with the eewwww factor. Good fathers are the ones “who jump in to clean up a gross mess and help out when someone else isn’t feeling well,” says Dianne Couris, an author and parenting coach in Oldsmar, FL, and president of Family Choices & Solutions, Inc. Christine Louise Hohlbaum, a mother of two, found this out years ago while on a tumultuous, three-hour ferry boat ride around the Greek Islands. Hohlbaum got seasick five times. “Each time, my then-boyfriend would take my barf bag to the front of the boat to retrieve another one,” she says. “As we pulled into the dock, I knew this man would make a great father. Childbirth and parenting would be a snap for a guy who can carry puke across the Mediterranean without blinking an eye.”

4. He’s a great uncle. “Nephews and nieces are the stepping stones to your own kids,” says Allen. “Does he call them on their birthdays? Does he make dates where he actually has to show up and take them to the movies or an amusement park?” Varina Caton, a Wilmington, DE, mother of two, witnessed such dedicated affection with her future husband and his nieces and nephews. “He would have his nieces and nephews fly out to stay with us,” she says. “He has always made a point of staying in contact with them. He sent some of them to summer camp because their Mom was unable to come up with the money. He has mentored them as they have matured, introducing money management (for obvious reasons!), job skills, people skills and most importantly setting goals. Because of his involvement with his sibling’s offspring I knew he would make a great dad, and he has!”

5. He doesn’t mind taking direction from his partner. “If a man resents being told what to do, then working with him on his children’s schedule and responsibilities could get tense,” Couris says. “Running a family schedule is usually [the mother’s role] and the father typically needs direction.” How can you tell if he’ll respond well to family life? Notice how he takes to your suggestions (“I think you should pack more than one pair of underwear for our week at the beach”) and how he reacts to your plans (“Don’t forget: Thursday is my uncle’s 73rd birthday and we’re all going to dinner”). If you get a positive reaction, you’re onto something!

6. He likes ketchup. And he understands the importance of blowing the paper cover off of a straw and seeing if it can reach across the table. In other words, he has a playful sense of fun, and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Those could be the most telling sign of all. You’ve got to have a sense of humor to get through life with kids.

Now, here are a couple of signs maybe he’s not destined to be the world’s best dad:

1. He can’t go with the flow. A good dad needs to be flexible, easygoing and not easily flustered. Having a kid means that dinners will get canceled, and vacations will be marred by bouts of the flu. If he’s the type who sweats the small stuff and can’t easily adapt to change, he may be in for a tough time as a dad. “I dated one guy who planned every weekend as if it was a military operation, and he totally blew a gasket if there was any fluctuation from his plans,” recalls Elizabeth Bach of Westfield, NJ. “He wasn’t so into the idea of having kids anyway, and I thought that was a good thing — he’d probably be one uptight, inflexible dad!”

2. He doesn’t pitch in around the house. “Any man who considers himself above anything… is going to have trouble serving his or her majesty: the baby,” Allen says.

Source: Match.com
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Erika Rasmusson Janes is a New York–based freelance writer whose work has appeared in Redbook, Modern Bride and Good Housekeeping.

Father's Day Trivia

           Today, June 19, 2011 is the 101th year of celebrating fatherhood. We shoud always strive often to please our father as much as we please and love our mother. As the formidable wall of our homes, he is always the provider and breadwinner of the family and is often dependable so we must honor and respect him. One way of pleasing, honoring and remembering his good deeds as a father is to spend some quality time with him and engage in worthwhile activities where both of you can enjoy most. That is the reason why a special day is appropriated exclusively only for fathers and today is their special day held annually. Did you know that we are celebrating this special occasion for fathers for over a century now.
          Did you know that the Father's Day that we celebrate today with a lot of pomp and show actually had to cross several hurdles to be made an official holiday? Surprising isn't it? A day dedicated to fatherhood, it gives every child an opportunity to cherish the endless sacrifices of his dad and render heart-felt thankfulness for the same. There are a number of stories attached with the occasion and a number of theories explaining the evolution of Father's Day. All such stories have gone down in the pages of history as trivia related to Father's Day. Some of the most popular trivia associated with Father's Day are:

Father's Day Trivia

• The first Father's Day was celebrated in Fairmont, West Virginia.
• The first Father's Day was organized by Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton.
• The first Father's Day celebration that was globally recognized was held in Spokane, Washington.
• The first globally recognized father whose life was celebrated and after whom the special day was dedicated was William Smart.
• The first Father's Day was celebrated on the third Sunday of June.
• Since Sonora Dodd was the girl who first started the tradition of Father's Day in the US, she had campaigned for her Father's birthday June 19 to be declared Father's Day in the US.
• It was President Woodrow Wilson who first said that Father's Day should be given the status of a national holiday in the year 1916.
• President Calvin Coolidge announced on the third Sunday of June in 1924 that Father's Day can be observed and celebrated all over America but did not pass a bill in Congress that would convert the day into a national holiday.
• The first presidential declaration designating the third Sunday of June as Father's Day was made by President Lyndon B Johnson in the year 1966.
• It was President Richard Nixon who declared Father's Day, the third Sunday of June as a national holiday in 1972.
• Father's Day today is one of the most popular events in the United Sates of America.
• Records say that as much as $100 million worth cards are sold on Father's Day. Cards and gifts are gifted to not only fathers but also uncles and grandfathers and sometimes also husbands and sons-in-law.
• Card making company Hallmark says that Father's Day is the fifth largest card selling occasion n America.
• The most popular gift of Father's Day in the US is a necktie.
• There have been many debates surrounding the spelling of Father's Day. Even though it is a day of all fathers, the occasion is spelt as Father's Day instead of Fathers' Day.
• It was the Associated Men's Wear Retailers which formed the National Father's Day Committee in New York City in the 1930s to promote the concept of Father's Day all over the country and the world.
• The centennial Father's Day celebrations were held at Spokane in the year 2010. These celebrations were accompanied by events held all over the month of June.
• The idea of Father's Day was conceived in Spokane, Washington by Sonora Dodd while she listened to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.
• Dodd (now known as "the mother of Father's Day") 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.
• The following year, June 19, 1910 was chosen for the first Father's Day celebration, proclaimed by Spokane's mayor because it was the month of William Smart's birth.
• Decades later, 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 by the Numbers

• This is a big day for the 66.3 million fathers in America.
• Nearly 95 million Father’s Day cards were given last year in the United States, making Father’s Day the fourth-largest card-sending occasion.
• Sons and daughters send 50 percent of the Father's Day card to their dads. Nearly 20 percent of Father’s Day cards are purchased by wives for their husbands. That leaves 30 percent of the cards which go to grandfathers, sons, brothers, uncles and “someone special.”
• While not everyone in America is a fan of Father's Day, 72 percent of Americans plan to celebrate or acknowledge Father’s Day.

Gifts for Father's Day

• Neckties are an old standby and lead the list of Father’s Day gifts. A good place to buy dad a tie or a shirt might be one of 9,189 men’s clothing stores around the country.
• Other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts include those items you may find in dad’s toolbox such as hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers. You could buy some of these items for dad at one of the nation’s 14,864 hardware stores or 5,795 home centers.

Other traditional gifts for dad such as fishing rods and golf clubs make for a happy Father's Day for the 22,410 sporting goods stores in America.
• More than 68 million Americans participated at a barbecue in the last year — it’s probably safe to assume many of these barbecues took place on Father’s Day.

Mr. Mom

• Mr. Mom is becoming a more common sight at parks across America with 147,000 estimated “stay-at-home” dads. These married fathers with children under 15 years old have remained out of the labor force for more than one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wives work outside the home. These fathers cared for 268,000 children under 15.
• The dads seem to stay home more with younger children. Preschoolers claim 20 percent of fathers with employed wives who were the primary caregiver for their preschooler. In contrast, only 6 percent of fathers provided the most hours of care for their grade-school-aged child.
• Many families split the responsibility of child care. Many Dad's (32%) with full time jobs regularly worked evening or night shifts and were the primary source of care for their preschoolers during their children’s mother’s working hours.

Hence, the next time when you celebrate Father's Day or any other paternal bond, always remember the trivia that is associated with this special day.