Do You Give Your Son a Father’s Day Gift?
Father’s Day is a time to honor men who are fathers and to celebrate the role that Fathers and Dads have in their children’s lives. What happens when your son becomes a father?
As his parents, do you buy him a gift on Father’s Day? Perhaps to acknowledge the role he now plays in your grandchildren’s’ lives?
The obvious answer would be that children buy their Fathers a gift on Father’s Day, and you would not buy your adult son a gift on Father’s Day because that isn’t your relationship. However, there are situations where you’d play a role in getting a gift.
When Would You Buy Your Son a Father’s Day Gift?
There may be some scenarios in which you might consider buying your son a Father’s Day gift. These typically involve helping your grandchildren rather than in you as a parent buying your son a Father’s Day gift.
Father’s Day Family Get Together
You get an invite to a family party at your son’s house on Father’s Day. It’s all about your son and what a great Dad he is – do you bring along a Father’s Day gift for him?
The simple answer is no; you won’t be buying him a Father’s Day gift because he’s not your Father. But you are probably going to take along a party gift – perhaps some home-cooked treats, chocolates, tea-related gifts, or something inexpensive.
You take along whatever you think appropriate as a gift for the party host, but it’s not a Father’s Day gift, it is a gift you gave on Father’s Day as a thank you for being included in the party.
If your son’s family is throwing him a Father’s Day party and you haven’t got an invite, or you can’t attend, then you don’t need to worry about a gift.
Your Son’s Spouse is Pregnant
Typically, your daughter-in-law would deal with buying your son a gift on a Father’s Day gift from the grandchild-to-be, if that is your family tradition. But she might be on bed rest and appreciate some help in obtaining, wrapping, and delivering a gift.
In these circumstances, you may buy a gift, but you are doing it on behalf of the child.
Baby is Newborn
Babies rarely check with the calendar when deciding to make their entrance into the world. Father’s Day may coincide with your grandchild being born, and the happy couple may be feeling stunned and disorientated.
Your son has become a Dad, and while you are celebrating that happy event, you might also want to celebrate Father’s Day – by providing a gift from the new arrival.
Your Son is a Single Dad
There are lots of reasons why your son may find himself in the position of being a single Dad. If the children are young, they may need help to celebrate Father’s Day as they don’t have a mother available to assist them.
As grandparents, you can help fill that gap in their lives and help them plan and afford a Father’s Day surprise. In this case, you are helping your grandchildren rather than buying a Father’s Day gift for your son.
Family Traditions on Father’s Day
All family traditions start somewhere.
Father’s Day is an old tradition dating back to the 1500s in the Catholic Church as the feast day of Joseph. In the early 1900s, the culture changed to honor flesh and blood fathers.
The initial idea was to express gratitude to the men who are Fathers and Dads and show them that you appreciate the role they play in your life.
As with many celebrations marked in the calendar, commercial interests have created an event that is an excuse to sell cards and gifts on a mass scale.
You can choose to celebrate Father’s Day in any way you like in your family. By repeating the way you celebrate year after year, you create a family tradition.
Often, a family tradition forms by accident. Still, nothing is stopping you from intentionally creating a Father’s Day tradition that uniquely celebrates the father and child bonds in your family.
Part of this tradition could include buying your sons and daughters a Father’s Day gift to acknowledge that the birth of a child turns a man into a father.
Alternatively, you might prefer to create an annual event that is flexible enough to embrace new family members as they come along. An event that allows fathers and children to spend time together in a relaxed and happy way.
Unless your family prefers to compete with hard-fought chess games or kart racing, the point is that you are free to choose what Father’s Day means to you and your family. And you can start that new tradition at any time you like – maybe this year!
All traditions begin as a new event, and it is the passing of time that gives them the status of being an established Father’s Day tradition.
The First Father’s Day
When your grandchild is born, your son is a new father. Obviously, the birth of a man’s child makes him a father. It is a biological fact. Becoming a Dad takes years of hard work and devotion – an often-thankless task.
An excellent Father’s Day gift for your son on that first Father’s Day is the Secret Dad Handbook. It is passed down from Father to Son and filled with all the rules of fatherhood.
Families have their copy of the Dad Rules that they need to keep hidden from the view of the children. This ancient first Father’s Day gift ceremony takes place in private – never witnessed and seldom discussed.
If you’ve mislaid the family copy of the Secret Dad handbook you can substitute it with ‘The New Dad’s Survival Guide’ by Rob Kent (Get the book).
Or, the excellent ‘Commando Dad’ by Neil Sinclair (Get the book).
Both books attempt to make the transition from man to Dad less challenging and more fun!
The golden rule of Father’s Day gift-giving is that a child makes the gift to their Father or the man who plays that role in their lives. The day honors the pivotal role that fathers play in society – heroes and villains and everything in between.
No one talks about the fact that all fathers are untrained, they learn their skills on the job. When you are a father, your children teach you how to be a Dad.
It’s a lifetime commitment between Father and child.
Happy Father’s Day!
