Father's Day is a global celebration of the mysterious arts of male parenting, often summed up in three words - socks and jocks.
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It's a relatively recent phenomenon, first observed in a YMCA at some place called Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910 by one Sonora Smart Dodd, whose father, single parent Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, raised his six children there.
This laudable effort inspired not only global recognition of fathers and father figures, but quite possibly a hit for the Village People.
In many parts of the world Fathers Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, but in keeping with typical male attitudes to parental consistency, that's hardly the rule.
Brazil prefers the second Sunday of August, Russia opts for February 23, while Thailand tends to tip the hat on the birthday of the king, whenever that is.
Australians celebrate on the first Sunday of September because it's the first Sunday of Spring and clears the following weekends for finals football.
Psalm 103:13 of the Bible says: "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him."
This has triggered confusion through the ages about what constitutes proper male parenting, but Dad's have thankfully come a long way from the "loving but tough" school of hard straps.
The idea that a father should pay any attention to the family unit is only a relatively new phenomenon in evolutionary terms, according to psychologist Gary Geary.
"Male parenting is uncommon in mammals, and does not occur at all in our closest living relatives (chimpanzees and bonobos)," say Dr Gary on website www.psychologytoday.com.
Some parts of the family tree might argue their closest living relatives ARE bonobos and chimps, but enough of Uncle Cecil and Aunty Ethel.
They might also suggest conventional male parenting is uncommon in humans too, but what is conventional?
Apples rarely fall far from the tree, but since when were trees ever capable of throwing stuff?
According to behavioural experts, male parenting first and foremost provides some non-trivial benefit to offspring.
At the bare minimum, that implies Dad helps keep kid alive.
Survival hardly seems a given during those early rounds of Daddy Day Care, but life goes on if you're lucky and what doesn't kill the child only makes the family unit stronger.
As children move through adolescence hopefully they also survive Dad's suggestions about what constitutes good music and a decent haircut. Eventually, the age-old truth will dawn - parenting isn't just instinctive. It's also learned. Like Dad jokes.
Hopefully everyone survives those too so that come Fathers Day, whatever day it's held on, in whatever part of the world, it can be acknowledged with socks, jocks or perhaps even a coffee cup with "Dad rocks" written on the side.
