    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 30 (Monday, July 28, 1997)]
    [Pages 1125-1126]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 7015--Parents' Day, 1997

    July 25, 1997

    By the President of the United States

    of America

    A Proclamation

        There are few experiences in life more challenging or more rewarding
    than being a parent. Holding their child for the first time, parents
    suddenly realize that they are totally responsible for this small person
    entrusted to their care. On Parents' Day, we pay tribute to these quiet
    heroes among us--the mothers and fathers who make a lifetime commitment
    to their children.
        Parents work hard to meet their children's need for food, shelter,
    clothing, and protection; but more important, they give their

    [[Page 1126]]

    daughters and sons the deep and abiding love, guidance, attention, and
    encouragement that empowers them with the values and self-esteem to
    succeed in life. Parents love their children as they are, yet still help
    them to dream big dreams about who they can become.
        The more we learn about our children, the more we realize the
    importance of good parenting. As we learned at the recent White House
    Conference on Early Childhood Development and Learning the first few
    years of life are crucial to a child's emotional, social, and
    intellectual development. As their children's first and most influential
    teachers, parents play an immeasurably important role in helping their
    sons and daughters grow into happy and healthy adulthood.
        The responsibilities of parenthood have become even more challenging
    in today's complex world. In many American families, both parents must
    work, struggling to balance the demands of job, home, and family. This
    balancing act is even harder for single parents, who must face the
    challenge of raising their children alone. In our mobile society,
    parents are often less able to rely on an extended family to help them
    provide the care and attention their children need. And today's mothers
    and fathers must protect their children from the ever-present threats of
    drugs, gangs, guns, violence, and unhealthy influences in the media and
    on the Internet.
        Recognizing that good parents are the foundation of our society, my
    administration has strived for the past 4 years to give parents the help
    they need to meet their responsi-bilities. I signed into law the Family
    and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and we are now proposing an expansion of
    that legislation to allow workers up to 24 hours of unpaid leave each
    year to meet family obligations. We are fighting to make our
    neighborhoods safer and drug-free and to reduce juvenile crime. We have
    expanded and improved Head Start to help parents prepare their young
    children to enter school ready to learn, and we have created an Early
    Head Start Program for children age 3 and under. We succeeded in
    requiring the installation of the V-chip and in helping to develop a
    voluntary ratings system on television so that parents can better
    protect their children from inappropriate material. And we are working
    with the computer industry to provide family-friendly controls that will
    give parents similar tools to use on the Internet.
        As we observe Parents' Day this year, I urge all Americans to join
    me in paying tribute to the millions of mothers and fathers--biological
    and adoptive, foster parents and stepparents--whose boundless love and
    selfless efforts are building a better life for their children and for
    our nation. Let us repay that love and effort by striving, in our
    neighborhoods, schools, businesses, community and church organizations,
    and in government at every level, to help parents fulfill their awesome
    responsibilities and create a brighter future for America.
        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 27, 1997, as Parents' Day.
    I invite the States, communities, and the people of the United States 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-fifth
    day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven,
    and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred
    and twenty-second.
                                                William J. Clinton

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:30 a.m., July 28,
    1997]

    Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on
    July 29.