Don’t forget Father’s Day

For anybody who doesn’t already know, it’s Father’s Day this Sunday. (It is always the third Sunday in June). If you think a day for dads is little more than a commercial wheeze, propagated by the greetings card industry to make everyone buy vastly overpriced bits of paper you are probably right. But research by Friends Provident suggest that fathers deserve some small token of appreciation because they do about £13,000 worth of unpaid jobs for their families each year.

According to the Life Assuror, Dads do an average of £5,000 worth of gardening, including mowing the lawn, each year. Although many wives might not believe it, the survey claims that dads also do 100 minutes of housework a day, which would otherwise cost £3,954 a year. Fathers ferrying their kids around saves a further £1,900 a year in taxi fares while the DIY jobs they do helps families avoid £1,500 a year in hired help.

Sports-mad Dads also carry out an average of £639 worth of coaching each year, training their kids in everything from swimming to football.

Of course, Friends Provident has an interest in encouraging fathers to realise their worth to their family – and so buy life insurance – but nonetheless, the figures do show that Dads are good value. But what costs Mums?