Father's Day v Mother's Day - In Coversation

Father's Day greeting cards: In conversation with Cool Cards employee Mark Blaseby, Senior Mailboy (due to his age).



Hi Mark!

M: Who are you? You've not been down in the basement before? Only joking boss! What you after this time? Tapping my brain again? I sould have some of your pay!

Great to see you Mark, excellent work you do down here!
I'd like your input, I want to ask you, Father's Day cards. Why the contrast in design, sentiment and expenditure as compared to Mother's Day cards?

M: I don't think men really want these mushy slushy sentimental cards. I think its a macho thing. We don't like to openly display our emotions. And also we like to be able to take a joke at our expense. It helps depict the fun picture us fathers are. You never see any humorous Mother's Day cards, women, they can't take a joke. The last thing you want to hear is a soppy sentiment, kids either like us or they don't and we know that with or without a card. They have their own way of expressing their feelings toward you. Mothers are used to receiving open displays of sentiment throughout the year. And therefore receiving a sentimental card is the norm so to speak, they expect that type of card. The father maybe almost embarassed by it. New paragraph!

M: What I would like to say about Father's Day cards, is why do so many depict Steam Engines and Lawnmowers, Yachting and Golfing? What else is there? Why did I forget Football? And I forgot Beer didn't I? There has to be more to us than that, or is there? What we need is P**N! Only joking! You'll edit that out won't you boss? Seriously, if I knew the answer to that one I could make myself a bit of money. Unlike working for you!

Thank you Mark. Your Fired.

Father's Day Cards. Clichés, Stereotypes

Clichéd Father's Day greeting cards persist despite social changes. Are any greeting card companies even remotely attempting to buck the trend and pave the way..?
























"Dad is a lout on many Father's Day cards, but that may be changing

Fathers sleep a lot, and they snore loudly. When they're awake, they like to fish or golf, but they're comically bad at both. They drink so much beer they're practically alcoholics, and they're complete couch potatoes, always watching television and hogging the remote.

At least, that's the less-than-favourable image of Dad on Father's Day greeting cards. It's a striking contrast to the poetic praise often expressed at Mother's Day. Many men say they are tired of the "put-down" cards and would like some affirmation for a change - and at least one greeting-card company is listening.

One father in Washington, D.C., who used to stay home with his kids and blog about his life as an at-home father, says the golf and fishing cards don't bother him, but he doesn't like the ones that make dads look incompetent.

"This idea that men are somehow biologically incapable of caring for their children is the sort of thing that I don't find particularly funny," said Brian Reid, father of two.

Not only greeting cards, but television and movies often convey the idea that Dad is unreliable with every parental duty from changing a diaper to picking the kids up at school, he says.

Greeting cards can be a good litmus test for the way society perceives various relationships and people. Companies want to sell cards, so they aim to hit a spark of truth. But generalizing in order to reach people can lead to stereotypes that then get perpetuated and take on a life of their own.

In an age where about 159,000 dads stay home with their children, according to 2006 U.S. Census numbers, it's hardly accurate to say that dads don't know what they're doing."

Continued... Source

Father's Day for many countries falls on the Third Sunday of June (The 15th in 2008)

Wiki: Father's Day