
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994                    TAG: 9406170008 
SECTION: COMMENTARY                     PAGE: J4    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Medium 
DATELINE: 940619                                 LENGTH:

THIS FATHER IS DOING SOMETHING RIGHT

{LEAD} I take exception to Guy Friddell's June 11 column concerning Father's Day. Mr. Friddell claimed that fathers really don't want a celebration, that they know, as icons, that they can't possibly measure up to Mom and that mothers deserved their day of recognition.

I don't think that Mr. Friddell speaks for the majority of fathers. There are a lot of fathers who deserve their Fathers Day recognition, and I hope that their wives and children keep that in mind and do not heed the article.

{REST} My husband is the father of three girls. Over the years, he has put in his time and then some! He works 45-plus hours each week and comes home and does more than his fair share of housework. He works every weekend around the house and yard, repairs broken appliances and toys, and works on the cars to make sure the job's done right.

This past winter, he spent the better part of three weeks in the rain and cold fixing my car! That's after he checked the kids' homework each night and retaught what they didn't understand in class. Even his vacations aren't the carefree relaxing trips that they are for the rest of us because he's doing all the navigating and driving and worrying about whether or not someone might break into the house while we're gone.

When the kids were smaller, he was the one who, for several months, sat in the car, parked under a street lamp so that he could read the newspaper, waiting for his daughters to come out of dance class. When one of our daughters was hospitalized, he barely left her side.

He's not much of a cook. And I guess he wasn't big on 2 a.m. feedings or changing diapers, either. However, over the years he has been a wonderful husband and father. There's nothing the girls and I can't count on him for. He must be doing something right because our daughters are growing up as lovely young ladies, and they are more likely to turn to him than to me for a sympathetic ear or for some sound advice.

My point is that he's not alone. There are a lot of fathers out there, especially today, when so many mothers work, who work as hard at home as they do at the office. These fathers deserve their day. Mr. Friddell's article would have been better to remind mothers and children to show their appreciation year- round and not just on the one day a year set aside just for that purpose.

KATHLEEN OREBAUGH

Norfolk, June 13, 1994 by CNB