Get ready – Tuesday, March 21, 2006, is National Single Parent Day!
I know, I didn’t believe it either; this is the first I’ve heard of it. So I did a little research and discovered that March 21st really is National Single Parent Day.
And it’s no mere greeting card holiday either: Congress designated March 21, 1984 as “National Single Parent Day” via the passage of Public Law No. 98-240. It was then officially proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan, via “Proclamation 5166 – National Single Parent Day, 1984,” on March 21, 1984.
Although I couldn’t find anything that said that March 21st was to be National Single Parent Day forever after, it’s apparently become an annual event since then, if the e-greeting card and e-flowers web sites are to be believed.
Since you and I are probably the only ones who actually realize that March 21st is National Single Parent Day, though, it’s up to us to inform those with a need to know.
So why be subtle? Tell your family that March 21st is your day, or get together with other single parents and treat yourselves to a celebration. I think we deserve it!
Since Proclamation 5166 is actually quite a tribute to single parents, I’m posting it here.
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Proclamation 5166 — National Single Parent Day, 1984
March 21, 1984
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Before they are eighteen, about half of our Nation’s children will have lived part of their lives with a single parent who strives to fill the
role of both mother and father.
Many single parents in America are making valiant efforts on behalf of their children under trying circumstances. Whether it is a deserted spouse forced to work and care for children simultaneously, or a spouse who is not receiving child support that has been awarded by a court, or an unwed mother who has bravely foregone the all-too-available option of abortion, or a widow or widower, single parents deserve our recognition and appreciation for their demonstrated dedication to their young.
At the same time, we should also recognize the vital and ongoing role a large percentage of non-custodial parents play in the nurturing process of their offspring. Their sacrifices, devotion, and concern reflect the bonds of caring for those they have brought into this world.
Single parents can and do provide children with the financial, physical, emotional, and social support they need to take their places as productive and mature citizens. With the active interest and support of friends, relatives, and local communities, they can do even more to raise their children in the best possible environment.
The Congress, by H.J. Res. 200, has designated March 21, 1984, as “National Single Parent Day” and has requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of that day.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim March 21, 1984, as National Single Parent Day. I call on the people of the United States to recognize the contributions single parents are making, sometimes under great hardships, to the lives of their children, and I ask that they volunteer their help, privately or through community organizations, to single parents who seek it to meet their aspirations for their children.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth.
Ronald Reagan
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:13 a.m., March 22, 1984]