Commentary Father’s Day became a national holiday in 1972, 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson had made Mother’s Day official. Neither was a religious holiday, but when my son was in grade school, the church we attended acknowledged both days. Parents received a small gift, a flower for moms and a ballpoint pen for dads. I was struck by the difference in tone of the different occasions. Remarks from the pulpit on Mother’s Day extolled the virtues of mothers, their love, patience, nurturing, sacrifice. Fathers received more admonition than praise, comments focusing on how far short we fell and the harm resulting in the lives of wives, children, and society. Perhaps I was already primed to notice the difference as Mother’s Day heightened my sense of gratitude and Father’s Day reminded me of my shortcomings. As a professor of social work, I knew from a variety of studies the negative …