This Father’s Day, Let’s Hear It for the Man Who Made You What You Are Today

(NewsUSA) – You can thank Richard Nixon for all the presents about to come the way of American dads.

Yes, it was President Nixon, of Watergate fame, who in 1972 signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a federal holiday. That Mother’s Day had already achieved such status 58 years earlier perhaps says everything about how — even today — we’re only truly beginning to recognize the enormous impact fathers have on their kids’ happiness and sense of well-being.

Paternal involvement seems to predict adult adjustment better than does maternal involvement, Psychology Today reports.

Still wondering what to get your dad to show how well he helped you turn out? Read on.

Daughters: If you were daddy’s little girl, frame that photo of him teaching you to roller skate in the park. Though he probably didn’t know it at the time, taking such an active interest in his daughter’s development helped give you the self-esteem needed to conquer the world (or, at the very least, a small corner of it).

Sons: Back in the late ’80s, Hollywood discovered that, as much as some men feared becoming like their fathers, they still longed to bond with them. If that sounds like your own father-son relationship, buy a DVD of the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams to watch together — and see who tears up first at the end when Costner’s character joyously plays catch with his late father after erroneously thinking the voice that had commanded him to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond (If you build it, he will come.) was referring to someone else.

Sons and Daughters: If it hasn’t already, there’s a video by the Swiss watchmaker Baume & Mercier (www.baume-et-mercier.com/en-us/clifton-10055.html) destined to go viral that perfectly captures the moment when grown children realize their father has made them the adults they are today. Called Celebrate Giving, in this case a young man flashes back to scenes from his childhood — his father is omnipresent, even comforting him over his first heartbreak — while out at dinner with his pregnant wife and parents.

I had no idea how much time we spent together, how many little things he showed me, the son silently muses in one particularly emotion-tugging scene.

In fact, the video is so on-target that you might want to rush out and buy your own dad the Baume & Mercier Clifton wristwatch the son presumably gave as a Father’s Day gift. It’s definitely what’s considered the essence of urban elegance, but there’s also a wide range of other styles to suit all dads.