Parents' Day 2001

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Part VI

The President

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Proclamation 7456--Parents' Day 2001

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7456 of July 21, 2001

Parents' Day 2001

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Being a parent is the most important job in the world.
As we hold a newborn in our arms or embrace an older
adopted child, the promise we make in our hearts to
love, protect, and nurture our children stays with us
and with them forever. We are eternally linked to the
children whom we are blessed to parent and to the
generations before us who helped shape our lives.

Both mothers and fathers play a vital role in giving
children the best possible start in life. As parents,
we provide our children with the love and support they
need to grow up to be caring individuals and
responsible citizens. The care we express and the
values we instill help our children achieve their
greatest potential and ultimately will determine the
future of our Nation.

Unfortunately, children who lack a strong parental
presence in their lives can suffer over both the short
and the long term. Study after study has demonstrated
that children who grow up without both parents in their
home are more likely to end up in poverty, drop out of
school, become addicted to drugs, have a child out of
wedlock, or go to prison. Single-parented children who
avoid these unfortunate outcomes will nevertheless miss
out on the balance, unity, and stability that a two-
parent family can bring.

Recognizing that strong families make a strong America,
I have committed my Administration to help parents do
better by encouraging the formation and maintenance of
loving families. We have proposed several major
initiatives designed to promote responsible fatherhood,
strengthen families, and make adoption easier and more
affordable, so that every child has a better chance of
living in a stable and loving home. We also have
achieved widespread support for the historic reform of
our public education system that will significantly
improve our schools. This improvement is founded on the
core principles of my education reform agenda, which
include: accountability; flexibility; local control;
and more choices for parents.

Government bears an important responsibility to provide
excellent schools and educational programs that leave
no child behind; but Government cannot replace the love
and nurturing of committed parents that are essential
for a child's well-being. Many community organizations,
centers of faith, and schools offer services and
programs to help parents improve their child-rearing
skills. As we observe Parents' Day, I encourage all
Americans to join me in honoring the millions of
mothers and fathers, biological and adoptive, foster
parents, and stepparents, whose selfless love and hard-
working efforts are building better lives for their
children and our Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, 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 22, 2001, as Parents' Day.
I urge all Americans to express their love, respect,
support, and appreciation to their parents, and I call
upon citizens to observe this day with appropriate
programs, ceremonies, and activities.

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

(Presidential Sig.)B