Parents' Day, 2000

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7331 of July 21, 2000

Parents' Day, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Parents play a crucial role in shaping our lives and
the life of our Nation. They nurture us as infants when
we are unable to help ourselves, protect us as toddlers
when we wander into trouble, encourage us as
adolescents when we dream about the future, and guide
us as adults as we face the challenges and
opportunities of our own families and careers. It is
through their care that we learn the invaluable lessons
of love, family, and community; and it is through their
selflessness that we come to understand the joy of
making a difference in the life of another.

Throughout our Administration, Vice President Gore and
I have strived to provide parents with the tools they
need to meet their responsibilities. The Family and
Medical Leave Act, which I signed in 1993, has allowed
more than 20 million Americans to take up to 12 weeks
of unpaid leave to care for a newborn or an ailing
relative without fear of losing their job. We have also
worked to make child care safer, better, and more
affordable for millions of families, and we have
expanded preschool and after-school programs to give
parents more flexibility in balancing the demands of
job and family. And we have worked hard for parents to
make the dream of a college education for their sons
and daughters a reality--with new HOPE scholarships,
more work-study opportunities, higher Pell grants, and
more affordable student loans.

Parenting is a lifetime commitment and a lifetime
challenge--it involves balancing the demands of family,
friends, career, and community. Yet parenting is also
one of life's greatest gifts. To hold one's sleeping
baby, watch one's children take their first tottering
steps and hear them say their first words, boast with
pride about their first home run or first music
recital, and witness firsthand their journey into
adulthood--these are some of the most precious rewards
of parenthood.

Only when we pass from childhood to adulthood can we
appreciate the value of our parents and the extent of
their sacrifices. For these, we owe our parents--
whether biological or adoptive, stepparents or foster
parents-- a profound debt of gratitude. On Parents' Day
and throughout the year, let us pay tribute to
America's parents, whose unconditional love and
constant devotion have helped create a bright future
for the next generation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States and consistent with Public Law 103-362, do
hereby proclaim Sunday, July 23, 2000, as Parents' Day.
I call upon all Americans to join together in observing
this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities to
honor our Nation's parents.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord two
thousand, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.