[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 30 (Monday, July 31, 2000)]
[Pages 1663-1664]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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Proclamation 7331--Parents' Day, 2000

July 21, 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.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., July 24, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on July 22, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
July 25.

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