[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 30 (Monday, July 30, 2001)]
[Page 1079]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
 Proclamation 7456--Parents' Day 2001

 July 21, 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.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., July 24, 
2001]

  Note:  This proclamation was published in the  Federal Register  on 
July 25.