Father’s Day vs Mother’s Day: What Came 1st?

This Sunday is Father’s Day and I’d like to give a big Attention Land thank you to my dad & all the other great dad’s out there.

With Father’s Day approaching, I started to wonder a few things. First, am I too old to give my dad a homemade coupon good for 1 hour of chores? And second, what came first, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day?

I’ll tackle the latter in today’s Wonder Why Wednesday…

Before I get to the answer, take a guess. What do you think came first? Now guess how many years were in between creation of the two holidays?

If you are anything like me, your guess was way off.

According to Wikipedia, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1914 to make Mother’s Day a national holiday. So title of what came first, goes to Mom.

Wikipedia says that Father’s Day did not become a national holiday until 1972 when Richard Nixon signed it into law.

So not only did Mother’s Day come first, but it was around for 58 years before Father’s Day became official!

President Wilson wanted to make Father’s Day a holiday in 1916, but Congress resisted, thinking the day would become too commercialized. I guess, Congress did not think Mother’s Day would become commercialized. Did Congress expect kids to buy gifts for dads, but not for moms?

Boy were they wrong!

Check out this awesome infographic from 2012 via H&R Block that breaks down the spending on each holiday. This would blow 1916 Congress’ mind (partly because they had no clue what an infographic or the Internet was).

Source: H&R Block