# More important to you: Mother or Father's Day? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216 "2016-06-12T20:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/1 "2016-06-12T20:34:21Z")
Father’s Day is coming up, and I think’s it’s safe to say it is a less heralded holiday than Mother’s Day. Do you agree? And why do you think there is this disconnect? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/2 "2016-06-12T21:29:20Z")
Since all my parents (birthmother, stepmother, father) are all very dead I don’t celebrate either occasion. When they were applicable I celebrated both more or less equally. I’d agree though that to many people Mother’s Day has more significance than Father’s Day. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/3 "2016-06-12T21:32:49Z")
I don’t celebrate either because my parents and in-laws are dead, but this cartoon is close to what I think about the holidays. [http://babyblues.com/comics/june-18-2000/](http://babyblues.com/comics/june-18-2000/) Father’s Day seems to be when Mom makes sure Dad relaxes, and Mother’s Day seems like the cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/4 "2016-06-12T21:37:55Z")
They are both useless to me, much like my parents. I don’t have the impression that Mother’s Day is considered more important than Father’s Day but if that is the case, I’d wager it’s because absent fathers are more common than absent mothers, statistically. Certainly the father figures in my life came and went like a revolving door but my mother was a constant. It ultimately made her harder to let go of than the fathers. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/5 "2016-06-13T00:39:37Z")
I like Mothers Day because my daughters treat me like a queen. I get prizes for my fertile womb! And the best part every year? Panda Buffet! Father’s Day is just another day around here. No fathers to celebrate with. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/6 "2016-06-13T00:43:45Z")
Mother’s Day does seem to be a bigger deal. As a father who thinks being a father is the most rewarding experience of my life, I have no rage over Mothers getting more Hallmark love. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/7 "2016-06-13T00:49:27Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t have the impression that Mother’s Day is considered more important than Father’s Day but if that is the case, I’d wager it’s because absent fathers are more common than absent mothers, statistically. Yeah, I’ll just say that I know way more people who grew up without a father than I do people who grew up without a mother. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/8 "2016-06-13T01:22:53Z")
My father died when I was 18 months old. I did not celebrate father’s day until I had children of my own. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/9 "2016-06-13T01:31:43Z")
Both of them are silly manufactured Hallmark holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/10 "2016-06-13T01:37:09Z")
My folks are gone now, but even in the days of my youth, we never did much for these two holidays. If we remembered at all, we’d say, “Happy Mother’s/Father’s Day” and maybe cook something nice for dinner. It just wasn’t a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/11 "2016-06-13T01:45:16Z")
My parents are dead. “How was your lamb” “Skewered. One sympathizes.” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/12 "2016-06-13T01:58:19Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > Both of them are silly manufactured Hallmark holidays. No they are not. They may have been usurped by commercialization but what holiday hasn’t? > [@](#): > > Mother’s Day is a holiday honoring motherhood that is observed in different forms throughout the world. The American incarnation of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Jarvis would later denounce the holiday’s commercialization and spent the latter part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar. While dates and celebrations vary, Mother’s Day most commonly falls on the second Sunday in May and traditionally involves presenting mothers with flowers, cards and other gifts. There are precursors celebrating Mother’s day all the way back to the Ancient Greeks and Roman’s. [Link.](http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mothers-day) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/13 "2016-06-13T02:09:57Z")
I haven’t had a father in many decades, and I am not a parent myself. Mother’s Day\* is still a thing in my family, not just for my own mother, but I have two sisters who are parents. However, as I live far away, it’s more of a late forgetful day of “Oh yeah, I guess”. It doesn’t help that my mother’s birthday is only a couple of weeks afterward, so I just save up the acknowledgement until then. \*_[Where](http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w011.html) does the apostrophe go?_ ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/14 "2016-06-13T02:53:43Z")
My father died when I was a small child, so I have no memory of Father’s Day being celebrated in my family. Mother’s Day wasn’t a big event for us either, presumably because when we kids were growing up anything fancy would have had to be arranged by our mother herself. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/15 "2016-06-13T11:52:48Z")
We never gave gifts to our parents on either day - maybe cards, but I don’t recall. After I moved away from home, I’d call my parents on each day. Dad died 14 years ago, but I still call Mom on Mother’s day and my daughter calls me. So they’ve been equally treated with minimal recognition. In fact this year, we accidentally tried to go out for breakfast on Mother’s day, forgetting what day it was. After our two usual breakfast choices had lines out the door, we found a 3rd place and had a rather expensive meal, compared to our usual weekend breakfasts. Guess that’s why it wasn’t crowded at all! We shall see how crowded things are on Father’s day, or we’ll eat out on Saturday instead of Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/16 "2016-06-13T13:43:13Z")
My mother’s dead. Last time I sent her a mothers day card she returned it with a message saying she didn’t celebrate these “silly American things”. Well ok then. I send my father a card every year. Me and my father aren’t close but we are much better than we used to be. But it’s hard to find a card that doesn’t say “you’re the greatest dad ever, ever”. I search for one that’s kind of generic. So in essence they are both both kind of annoying. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-important-to-you-mother-or-fathers-day/757216/17 "2016-06-13T15:11:16Z")
I am an orphan. However, I am a father. I will get two cards for Father’s Day, so I voted accordingly.