Miscellaneous Monday: What is "Family Day"?

[#1]

Happy Monday Everyone!

In the true spirit of “miscellaneous” Monday, I thought I share with you all the background/history of the holiday that is being celebrated in my part of the world today.

The third Monday in February is recognized in Ontario and a number of other provinces (but not all) as Family Day. The main reason for it’s creation is that the gap between New Year’s Day and Good Friday is the longest gap without a statutory in the calendar year for Ontarians. Unfortunately, this was not a net increase in the number of statutory holidays. Businesses have been given the option to substitute this holiday for one of the others later in the year, most of which have chosen to take back Easter Monday.

I’m fortunate enough to work for a company that has unlimited PTO days and our CEO has been very candid in reminding people that if there is a holiday you don’t wish to work simply request it as paid time off.

I hope you learned something new today. Have a great week!

[Freddie Ware]

Family day is great and to be working with a company with unlimited PTO is awesome to be able to spend time with your family at the start of a work week 

[Ankush Bora]

TIL about 'Family Day'! Thanks @Jimmy Seddon for sharing this.

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Family Day sounds like a lovely holiday! I hope there is a prohibition on electronic devices—except maybe televisions for watching movies together. 

Here in the US, it is Presidents' Day, which means that I won't get any mail, but this is not a holiday many companies observe. My holiday gap goes from New Years Day to Memorial Day (last Monday in May). 😢

When I was a kid, I loved February because we got both Lincoln's birthday (Feb 12) and Washington's birthday (Feb 22) as holidays with no school. Aaahhh, nostalgia. 

[Rebekka Heilmann (viadee)]

That's so random!

Here in Germany we still mainly have Christian (mainly catholic) holidays (some areas more than others) and some historical ones. Coming from Cologne, we break up the long time between New Year and Easter by celebrating Karneval. It's not a public holiday but lots of schools will be closed from Thursday up to Tuesday. Some local companies will even give you extra paid time off.

[Ananjan_miniOrange]

Happy Monday everyone!

Taking some time off for your family sounds like such a fantastic idea. I agree, that having a special day dedicated to family is such a unique and wonderful concept. Great one @Jimmy Seddon !

[Sam Nadarajan]

I've reached the point in life where I expect the calendar year to have periodic holidays off. In the States, the time between July 4 and the 1st Monday of September feels like the longest stretch but it doesn't feel too bad as most of us (including myself) takes a vacation or two (when everyone else is).

Family day is a great idea though! Never heard of it before but that's neat that you have it in CA! I'm curious to know if there are equivalent holidays around the world that are in a similar vein as Family Day!

[Amanda Barber]

I heard about Family Day on Friday when interviewing a customer, but didn't really understand what it was. What a great holiday! My company was closed today for the U.S. holiday of Presidents' Day, which was nice since my kiddos were off, too. So, it was a family day of sorts for us (minus my husband, sadly!)

[John Funk]

Thanks for sharing @Jimmy Seddon ! I had not heard of Family Day before this post. It's also good that many companies are flexible with the actual time off. 

[Haoyang Lu]

Sounds like a shorter version Chinese New Year 😄!

Chinese New Year festival can be considered as a "family week" and (even) treasured by Millennials and Gen Z.

[Andy Gladstone]

@Jimmy Seddon I read this yesterday, but held off on commenting today. We had a 'family' wedding last night that had me thinking how appropriate it was that it took place on Family Day. The wedding was not of a biological family member, but a close friend's son that was/has been part of our lives for over 20 years. The nostalgic feeling we had sitting at the ceremony and reminiscing about how much our families have matured and grown was the best gift I could ask for, and on Family Day!

[Damaris Fadare]

@Jimmy Seddon  it nice to have that holiday! I almost forgot we had a public holiday yesterday. It's nice to have an extra  day off!

[Summer.Hogan]

I have never heard of Family Day, but I wish the United States would add this as a holiday! Thanks for sharing this great information and enlightening me @Jimmy Seddon!

[Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM]

I like the idea of Family Day. 

In the US the longest gap in real holidays (looking at you, bank-only holidays) is between New Year's and Memorial Day.  I have always thought that is too long, too many corporations do not recognize federal holidays like Presidents Day, MLK Day, St Patty's Day, Easter, and others I may have forgotten. 

We should have at least one 3-day weekend per month!  

[Damaris Fadare]

@Summer_Hogan I guess it is a Canadian Holiday!

[Josh Shepherd]

What seemed to start off as a political move to give people a holiday, has turned into a great time for rituals. We cook a full turkey dinner just for fun and invite lots of friends. It's the prefect excuse to just do something together.