The Father’s Day cards... for mums!
IN a sign of how families are changing, High Street chains are selling Father’s Day cards for mothers.
One of the stores, Paperchase, says it introduced the range to help avoid single mothers feeling excluded.
But men’s campaigners say mums already have Mother’s Day, which is a much bigger event in terms of High Street spending, and Father’s Day should be respected as a day for dads.
UK spending on Mother’s Day in terms of cards, flowers and gifts is around £1.4billion a year, double the £700million spent around Father’s Day.
Slogans on the cards sold by Paperchase include ‘Who said the best dad in
‘It should be kept just for dads’
the world can’t be a mum’, ‘Who needs a dad when your mum has balls’ and ‘If you do both jobs you should get both cards’.
One says ‘Dad you’re awesome’ but has ‘Dad’ crossed out and replaced with ‘Mum’, while another says ‘ You’re the Swiss army knife of parenting’.
The cards are aimed at the estimated quarter of British families with dependent children where one parent, usually the mother, is raising children alone.
But author Swayne O’Pie, chairman of pressure group the Society to Establish a Minister for Men and a founder member of another campaign group, Fathers 4 Justice, said Father’s Day should be kept just for dads.
‘The biological father and the stepfather should be celebrated,’ he said. ‘ A male presence in a child’s life is as important as a female’s and it’s a jolly good idea to have a Father’s Day separate to “Other Children’s Carers Day”.’
The cards are designed by Stevie Rowing-Parker, creator of Happy Father’s Day Mum, and cost £2.99. He launched his card business last year after seeing how happy it made his own mother to receive a Father’s Day card.
Mr Rowing-Parker, 29, lost his father when he was five, leaving mum Maria, 59, to play the role of both parents for him and his brother Tim. He said: ‘For the past four years I’ve been buying Father’s Day cards, crossing out Dad and writing “Mum”. It just made Mum so happy.
‘It’s obviously a pretty rubbish day for them and I just felt why are these amazing mums who are doing both jobs feeling rubbish on this day when they should be celebrated as well? I have been a massive champion of the fact my mum has done it all on her own.’ A Paperchase spokesman said: ‘At seasonal events such as Father’s Day, a single parent may feel excluded. This year we want to make sure we celebrate single parents by offering a range of cards for customers who want to big up their mum this Father’s Day.’
The Father’s Day cards for mothers will also be sold in some outlets in the Oliver Bonas chain. This year Father’s Day falls on Sunday, June 17. Other card retailers have jumped on the mums as dads theme with yousaidit.co.uk selling a card saying ‘Dad’s a d***. Happy father’s Day, Mum’.
Clintons also has a gender neutral card with the slogan ‘You’ve always been like a dad to me’.
A spokesman said: ‘ We try to cater for as many family situations as we can.’