Sometimes it is easy to forget how important you are to your children.   Fathers work hard, and play hard, and act tough and love strong.  The problem is that the love part is not always pronounced in a language that kids understand.  In fact, some fathers seldom, or never, tell their kids how much they love them.   Some interesting

father’s day statistics may enlighten you as to how significant you are to your children:

1)  43% of US children live without their father (US Department of Census)

2)  90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes (US DHHS, Bureau of Census)

3)  80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes (Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol 14, pp 403-26)

4.  71% of pregnant teenagers lack a father (US Department of Health and Human Services)

5.  63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (Bureau of Census)

6.  85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes (Center of Disease Control)

7.  71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes (National Principals Association Report)

8.  75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes (Rainbows for all God’s Children)

9.  85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home (Fulton County Georgia jail populations and Texas Department of Corrections)

There are 70.1 million estimated number of fathers in the USA and 26.4 million of those fathers are married with children under 18.  And guess what?  The only one of these millions of fathers that matter to your kids is you.

This article is not a judgement on fathers, because there are so many truly wonderful fathers out there.  It is more of a commentary on what is really important in this life.  So many parents think that the more “stuff” they can give their kids, the better life their kids will have.  The sad part is that if you are out earning money to buy stuff, you are not home with your kids and enjoying the wonder that they can bring to your life.

Kids want time.  Make a fort out of a cardboard box with your son and watch his eyes light up and his excitement grow.  Building a birdhouse out of scrap lumber with your seven year old girl, showing her how to handle tools (electric saws as well as simple hammers and screwdrivers) builds a strong relationship and trust.

Show up at ballgames and be your kids biggest cheerleader…that has meaning.  Another Xbox – add it to the pile of gifts that provide more separation between you and your little ones.  Read to your kids…have them read to you.  Set up regular “dates” with your kids…individual, one-on-one dates where you can share fun and casual talk.  Help them to know that you are interested in their lives.  When they get older and are tempted to do drugs, or peer pressure pushes them to consider drinking or sex, they may feel comfortable coming to you to talk about the pressures of their lives.

It is so easy for a parent to become so oblivious to the needs of their kids due to the pressures of being a grown-up in this day and age.  Regardless of how the world is beating on you at times, your kids have anxieties and pressures that need to be released.  They can share their fears with you, or with their peers.  Where do you think they will get the most guidance…the most understanding…the most love?

So, Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out their who truly take the business of fathering seriously.  The world is a better place because of the time you invest in the people you added to the world’s population.  To you father’s who are no longer with your kid’s mothers, don’t forget your kids.  Re-read the stats above.  You can still be a loving and caring father, even if you cannot sleep under the same roof with your kids every night.

If you want to know what is important to your kids, ask them?

God our Father, in your wisdom and love you made all things.  Bless those fathers who have taken upon themselves, the  responsibility of parenting.  Bless those who have lost a spouse to death or divorce, who are parenting their children alone.  Strengthen them by your love that they may be and become the loving, caring persons they are meant to be.  Grant this through Christ, our Lord.  Amen

This article is an opinion piece written by Daniel Moran, so if you have any comments or disagreements with the content, address them to me at dmoran@calumetparkcemetery.com

Visit us at calumetparkcemetery.com for info about preplanning a funeral.

The slide show (above) and the photo gallery (below) is presented in honor of this weekend of remembrance.

All photos were taken by Marisela Gonzalez, a family service counselor at Calumet Park.  She was joined with all of the Calumet Park staff who worked diligently to make Calumet Park a place of beauty and peace for all of our families.  A special thanks to Tim McClure, grounds superintendant and his assistant Tom Music, along with the entire grounds crew, for doing such a wonderful job on living up to the high standards of Calumet Park Cemetery.

Through June 30, 2012, Calumet Park is offering all memorialization (monuments, markers etc.) at a price of 20% off the normal price (an additional 5% when paid in full).  If you were ever thinking of looking into Calumet Park Cemetery as your scource for your monument or marker investment, now would be the time.  Buy now for your cemetery property at Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville or for installation in any cemetery in Lake and Porter counties.

Terms are available with as little as 10% down and no interest.  All purchases on terms other than paid in full, and all credit card sales, will get the 20% discount.

No credit turn-downs and sale is for all purchases of upright monument or for flush markers.  For more info about Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville, Indiana, look through all of the stories and pictures in this blog.

There is a year’s worth of helpful info by going to older posts and viewing some of the slide shows.  Or, go to calumetparkcemetery.com

Call 219-769-8803 now.

Imagine going to work on a Monday morning with the knowledge that your “customers” are, for the most part, there to see you because someone died.  Work at an ice cream parlour and everyone you meet is happy.  Work at a cemetery or a funeral home and nobody is.  So, during this time of year when mothers are honored, and veterans are saluted at cemeteries across this nation, go to the important people in your life and give them a hug…just because.

In fact, when was the last time you told your child or your husband or wife or brother or sister or parents that they are special and that you want to thank them for being a part of your life?  If you did give a hug lately, then you know the good feeling you give and that you receive with just a simple touch or a kind word.  If you have not involved yourself in such acts of love, try it.  You may find that it is a habit worth nurturing.
To all mother’s out there, happy Mother’s Day.

And to all families of veterans that have had their last hurrah, thank you all for your unselfish dedication and sacrifices for your nation.

Representative Pete Visclosky

will join with the American Legion 1st District and Pastor Fred Hoover

on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (May 27) as we honor all veterans during Calumet Park Cemetery’s Memorial Weekend tribute to

veterans and their families.  Please stop whatever you are doing and bring your family and friends to Calumet Park to share in this solemn and grateful ceremony.  For more information, and to view the calendar for the entire weekend, go to our post showing the Spring Newsletter, last page or go to calumetparkcemetery.com

It is because of these brave people of the past, and future veterans, that we wake each morning breathing the beautiful air of freedom.  You can have your cookouts and go to your ballgames…but give up an hour to come and say thanks just by your very presence at this year’s event.  Thank you, and a big thank you to all of our veterans!

The Honorable Visclosky will also be a key speaker at the Battle of the Bulge Ceremony on Monday, May 28 at 12:30 along with Sheriff Buncich and other prominate speakers.

Calumet Park wishes a wonderful and loving day to all the mothers that have meant so much to their families.  For those families who will be visiting Calumet Park Cemetery on mother’s day, we will have a flower in the remembrance of moms who have passed (flowers while they last) for you as you enter the gate.  As always, our prayers go out to those who will not be able to share the day with their mom’s.

The biggest complaint that mausoleum crypt owners have voiced over the years is the tiny gnats that tend to inhabit the inside spaces of mausoleums.  Zontec provides the solution for those progressive cemeteries willing to make the substantial investment.  Calumet Park, always the leader in offering the best possible service to its families, absorbed the cost and installed a system in the original mausoleum as a test.  It worked so well that the system will now be standard with all future mausoleum designs, as well as having the system installed in the new north chapel mausoleum.

design your final goodbye the way you would like it to be, from simple to a big goodby party and everything in between.  It costs nothing to look.  We will be able to give you some options that you may never have thought possible, and we can make it affordable.

Calumet Park has graves from free (who doesn’t like free?) to graves priced at over $17,000 each.  Really?  $17,000? Like you hear in real estate…location-location-location.

Take some time and look back at many of the articles and photos of Calumet Park Cemetery and Funeral Chapel in this blog.  We have options for every pocket book.  You can afford to use one of the nicest cemeteries in the country, especially if you elect to set things up on payments.

You can make your exact wishes known, freeze the price (protection against future inflation), and spare your loved ones from having to make these difficult decisions…alone.

Go to our website at calumetparkcemetery.com or call now for a free tour of our cemetery and funeral chapel.  In fact, we invite you to look at a number of cemeteries to help you judge which one is the place you would want your loved ones to visit after your passing.  We are not looking for you to be in a hurry to use your grave spaces…it is just a fact that it is better to have them and not need them rather than need them and not have them.

What has our society come to?  Put Oprah or Gambling in the title of an article, and people flock to a site.  Our two biggest days of hits to this blog were days that these two words were in the title.  Neither are going to pay for your cemetery property or funeral services…except by chance.  If you want information about prearranging, read some of the over 100 articles in this blog or call

219-769-8803 or go to calumetparkcemetery.com