By TANIA LAM
KUCHING: Last Sunday was a special day for many dads, what with it being Father’s Day and all.
However, some may feel that Mother’s Day is generally celebrated on a much larger scale compared to its counterpart.
The community here was approached for their thoughts on this matter.
“It’s hard to tell, but most people would think that Mother’s Day is celebrated more than Father’s Day. For my family, we celebrate both days the same way,” shared Justin Martin.
“Normally, I’d buy a cake and have dinner at home with the whole family. A small celebration would do, as long as there is a family gathering where we can show our appreciation to our dad,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
A father of two, Rizal, also thinks that Mother’s Day is promoted more, and he feels that Father’s Day should be celebrated more.
“For either day, the celebration is the same – we would go out and spend time together as a family and have a nice meal out,” he said.
“We should celebrate both of the occasions equally as mothers and fathers should be similarly appreciated,” added Rizal’s wife Nor Mala.
Meanwhile, Primatera Yudha agreed that mothers tended to be given more attention, reasoning, “People are generally closer to their mothers. In most cases, women are still the main caretakers in the family, so perhaps we have to demonstrate our appreciation even more.”
However, he said he treated his parents the same on their respective days. Yudha fondly reminisced about his Father’s Day celebrations with his late father.
“We would go out and eat together with the whole family. We would go for karaoke, or to the beach for a picnic. I’d buy him a present, like a new wallet or watch,” said Yudha.
Kelvin Imban, on the other hand, feels that fathers received more attention than their female counterparts these days.
“On the contrary, I think people now celebrate Father’s Day more compared to Mother’s Day,” he said, adding that he felt there was a greater social media presence for Father’s Day.
Imban added that community events such as charity runs or family-themed activities would be beneficial in fostering stronger family ties.
Stella Wong agreed about the skewed attention between the two occasions, but she had a different approach to Mother’s Day and Father’s Day altogether.
To her, the idea of separate celebrations was not to her liking, as they could lead to a differential preference between the two parental figures.
“I celebrate Parents Day, where both mother and father are celebrated together. We do this in May,” she further said.
Touching on her Parents Day activities, Wong mentioned that she would bring both her parents out together for a meal, and there would be cake too.
She shared her opinion that nowadays, these occasions were used as marketing gimmicks by businesses.
“I think it is not necessary to celebrate either Mother’s Day or Father’s Day because they are only for business and commercial purposes and promote things so that people will buy them for their parents.”
