[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.