If you had no idea and you’re just hearing about National Parents Day, you missed it.

Perhaps you can head to the card shop and pick up a belated card on clearance.

National Parents Day was signed into existence by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and at that time, the fourth Sunday in July was chosen as the date.

I had no idea the special day existed until I got ready to throw away my desk calendar that had been on my classroom desk all year.  There it was, written in a small, unassuming color on my printed calendar.

A 30-year-old special day I’d never heard of.

Now, one would think that parents would have had plenty of celebration in May and June when our individual parenting days were scheduled. One would think there would have been plenty of opportunities for breakfast in bed, trips to the spa, ugly ties and “#1 Dad” coffee mugs to be rolled out.

And who hasn’t heard a kid, probably protesting being dragged off to a relative’s home on Mothers Day or Fathers Day, say “When is it KIDS DAY?” 

Then the parents say “EVERY DAY is kids day!”

And then there is laughter from the audience.

If I shake off my curmudgeonly self and discard my “another holiday created by Hallmark” attitude, I can focus on someone proposing National Parents Day and see that it might be a good idea.  I mean, after all, there are plenty of people who aren’t biological parents or even parents at all, who are filling the roles and taking care of families the best way they can.

I have been particularly tough on parents over the years, and I wish I hadn’t been – especially after I became a parent myself.  There are many, many times that I made an unfair assumption or even wound up with egg on my face.  

Now, there were plenty of times that parents weren’t doing their jobs, but even then I didn’t know the circumstances.  

I wish I had extended much, much more grace than I did. 

Parenting ain’t for sissies.

I think that life would be so much better if we were more transparent about our  parenting and the struggles we have. What a difference it would make if we could remember to give an encouraging word to people who are out there, every day, routinely taking care of families. 

How wonderful would it be if we did a better job helping out foster families, or grandparents raising their grandkids, or even people who aren’t bio parents, taking care of kiddos because no one else stepped up.  

And then there are those grown children who have become parents to their own aging parents.

We need to step outside our own circumstances and pay attention to the parents around us instead of worrying about creating our own idyllic picture collage on Facebook. We need to stop worrying that people will find out we make mistakes and admit that we have dropped the ball many times when it comes to parenting.

I mean, as we’ve heard ad nauseum, kids don’t come with instruction booklets.

Should we be proud of our families and grateful that they turned out pretty good? Of course! There’s nothing wrong with letting people know how proud we are, and I personally love seeing everyone on Facebook.  

But we don’t want to get too caught up in our own lives to pass judgment or ignore others who may just need a pat on the back.

It might be a good idea to change the name of National Parents Day to Parent and Caregiver Support Day.

Maybe I’ll call the President.