When I was a little boy, on a Mother’s or Father’s Day, I asked my parents why there wasn’t a Children’s Day. Over 60 years later, I still remember my father’s reply: “Every day is Children’s Day.” He went on to talk about how everything they do as parents is focused on the children every day. I thought of this often as a parent, with children being the center of everything we do as parents.

This got me to thinking about the difference between celebrating Mothers’ Day vs. Father’s Day at Church. I don’t remember doing anything special for Father’s Day other than maybe a few talks in Sacrament meeting when I was Bishop. In fact, I’ve only been to one ward (in Gilbert, AZ) that did something for the fathers. They had a bunch of pies made, and the Relief Society served a piece to all the men after church in the cultural hall.

I think we don’t really make a big deal out of Father’s Day because, like the title of this post, every day is Father’s Day in the LDS Church. Men have almost all significant leadership callings, and there is ALWAYS a man to answer to in any calling a woman has, while men only have other men as their leaders. Trying to make up for the deficit of women’s recognition in the Church, Mother’s Day gets a bigger part of the Sunday service, though even that falls far short of what the women in the Church deserve.

I don’t think this is limited to the LDS Church. I see that people spend more for Mother’s Day than Father’s Day overall and have more elaborate celebrations for mothers.

What has been your experience at Church for Father’s Day? Have you seen any special celebration other than talks in Sacrament meeting?

Anybody else get pies? Cookies?, Candy Bars?