Celebrating Father’s Day with Family and Figures

Sunday is Father’s Day and in the current issue of Men’s Health the magazine touched on Dads and provided some interesting numbers based on the results of a survey they conducted:

• The average age of a first-time father was 29 which is up from 25 in 1973.
• Fathers of newborns between 6-12 weeks old get an average of 6 hours sleepwhich has to be considerably more than Mothers.   (3 in 10 new Dads did report falling asleep at work).
• 43% of fathers with children under the age of 6 read to their kids on a daily basis.
• When asked if they were a better dad than their father, 53% said yes and 47% said no.
• When asked what aspect of “turning into your dad” scares you the most 35% said being crotchety. 27% picked his hair, 23% his clothes and 15% said his sense of humor.
• 32% say they lose sleep worrying about providing a good life for their child.
• Here’s a number that will keep plenty of dads with young children awake. The average cost of a four-year college education now is $89,420 and the projected cost in 2033 when a 3-year old heads to college is $372,397.  Is that even possible?
• Finally on the other side. 37% of kids say they wish NO parents would watch them play when it comes to sports.  Not sure of the age of those kids but I’ve seen enough cases where young athletes are often embarrassed by the behavior of their parents and of course in many cases those parents put a tremendous amount of pressure on their children to succeed.

As to how the day is celebrated, well it’s a bit different now that my father is no longer with us.  So that means the choice of what to do is up to me and I choose to spend it at the beach with my wife, daughter and a good book.

Whatever you dads decide to do I hope you have the best day possible.