BY LYNNE FRITH

The plan to close the Newmarket Viaduct on Sunday, Fathers' Day, has caused consternation around the community.

There's the negative impact on families who might have planned special outings or visits, but are being advised to stay home or, if we must go out, to use public transport.

The Newmarket Business Community is worried about a potential drop in business, as Father's Day is normally one of the biggest shopping days in the year.

Is that what Father's Day is really about  -- a day at the shops, and a big spend up?

It's time we made a fuss about fathers.

The good dads, the loving, tender ones who only want the best for their children, need heaps of attention and encouragement.  Good dads seldom make the headlines. Let's make a fuss about the fathers who stay home from work when the kids are sick, who provide transport to sports practice, music lessons, kapa haka. The dads who go to school interviews, who refuse to supply alcohol for their under age children, who know that trust and respect are earned by caring, responsible parenting. 

Teenage dads

Then there are the dads who want to do the best they possibly can but don't know how. Let's make a fuss about teenage dads who would benefit from some dedicated educational centres, rather like those currently available for school age mothers. What about the dads, young and not so young, who are determined not to repeat cycles of violence and abuse that were part of their upbringing?

And what about programmes that teach boys and men that manliness and fathering is not about being dominant, tough, and entitled to power and control in the domestic sphere? This is real men's work - to mentor and encourage ways of being a man that are about being a participatory member of the family, that being there for their children means paying attention to them rather than demanding attention from them, that the best families are ruled by love, not fear.

Let's make a fuss about fathers -- the good and the not so good, the ones who do want to make a difference in their own lives, and the ones who can't imagine that change is necessary let alone possible.

Let's be thankful for those who get it right some or all of the time, and let's shed tears for those who get it wrong.

Let's dream of a time and work for the dream to be reality that Father's Day will indeed be a happy one for all fathers and their children.