TOMORROW is Father’s Day, but not as we know it.
It’s another day of celebration disrupted by lockdown, for the second year running.
The impact is perhaps not so bad for the children who are still around their fathers.
However, many us won’t get to see Dad face-to-face.
Lockdown makes seeing fathers hard for separated families, for adult children who’ve moved out of home, and for dads working away.
It’s another important day during our year that many of us won’t be able to celebrate in person due to current restrictions.
Being separated from the ones you love is tough.
The longer it goes on, the tougher it seems.
Father’s Day in 2021 might be uneventful for some, but it’s still an important day.
It’s an exciting day for some younger men in our community; it will be their first Father’s Day.
For other people, sadly, it might be their first Father’s Day spent grieving.
Under both these scenarios, being forced apart from family and friends makes celebrating difficult, but not impossible.
Family is an incredibly important foundation in life and fathers play a unique and critical role.
Every dad who is a positive role model to their children should be celebrated.
Yes, the forced separation on Dad’s milestone day is mentally exhausting.
But thankfully, due to the flexibility of our local businesses, sending our best wishes over the phone is not all we can do to say thank-you.
There’s plenty of options available in town.
You can order dad a meal from a local cafe, buy him a gift card from a small business, or pay forward an experience that you can share together later.
One thing that lockdowns won’t change is this – dads are awesome and they deserve a shout out.
Happy Father’s Day. I hope it’s a good one.
