Write a Father's Day letter thanking your dad for a question he always asks, and at last give the long answer.First line: You ask how school was every day. Here is how school was.
Let the lawn, the car or the family dog write your dad a thank-you letter, since they cannot hold a pen.First line: On behalf of the grass, thank you for Saturday.
Write a portrait of your dad at the wheel: how he sits, what he says to other drivers, the station he will not change.Angle: one hand or two, the route he swears is faster, where he parks.
Catch your father asleep in a chair and write the portrait: the chair, the position, the sound.First line: He says he is resting his eyes, and his eyes rest loudly.
Describe the hat, jacket or tie of your dad's that anyone could spot from across a parking lot.Angle: how old it is, where it has been, who has begged him to retire it.
Describe the look on your dad's face when he is trying not to laugh, and write the moment that caused it.Angle: a serious place makes it better. A recital, a ceremony, a long speech.
Describe your dad packing the car for a trip.Angle: his system, the bag that will not fit, what he says when it finally does.
Describe your dad's dance moves in slow motion, for someone who has never seen them.First line: It starts in the shoulders, and it never reaches the feet.
Describe your dad's handwriting, his signature and one note he left, for a Father's Day portrait.Angle: capitals or loops, pen or pencil, what the note said and where you found it.
Describe your dad's shoes, every pair, and what each pair is for.Angle: the work pair, the yard pair, the pair he will not throw out.
Follow your dad as he looks for something he has lost, room by room, and write it up for a Father's Day laugh.First line: He begins by asking who moved it.
Listen to your dad on the phone and write his portrait: where he walks, how loud he gets, how he says goodbye.Angle: count the goodbyes. There are never fewer than three.
Make a Father's Day trading card for your dad in words: his position, his numbers and his best season.Angle: naps taken, pancakes flipped, puns told on a single car ride.
Tell the story of your dad's greatest win at a board game or a race across the yard, and how he acted afterward.Angle: the victory lap, the speech, how long he kept bringing it up.
Watch your dad watch a game, and write the last two minutes of a close one looking only at him.Angle: where he sits, what he shouts, what he does when it is over.
Write a Father's Day portrait of your dad cooking the one thing he cooks.Angle: apron or no apron, the mess, what he calls it, what everyone else calls it.
Write a portrait of your dad at the wheel: how he sits, what he says to other drivers, the station he will not change.Angle: one hand or two, the route he swears is faster, where he parks.
Write your dad's portrait as an owner's manual: how to start him in the morning and how to fix common problems.First line: Do not attempt conversation until the first cup has been poured.
Something he taught me 15
Describe a place your dad taught you to find your way around: a trail, a bus line, a hardware store.Angle: the landmarks he uses, the turn everyone misses, where you stop on the way back.
In the kitchen your dad taught you to flip, crack, stir or tell when it is done: write the lesson.Angle: the sound it makes when it is ready, and your first try alone.
List ten small things your dad taught you, then pick one and write the whole afternoon you learned it.Angle: tying, whistling, parking a bike, shaking hands. Small is the point.
Make a how-to page for an outdoor skill your dad taught you: casting a line, pitching a tent, skipping a stone.Angle: write it for someone who has never been outside. Leave nothing out.
Name the thing your dad is still teaching you, because you have not got it yet, and write the latest lesson.First line: We are on lesson nine of how to back the wagon up the driveway.
Set down a knot, a paper fold or a coin trick your dad taught you, clearly enough that a friend could do it.Angle: number the steps, and warn the reader about the one that goes wrong.
Tell about something your dad taught you to tighten, sand or build, and the tool you were finally allowed to hold.First line: He handed me the screwdriver like it was a trophy.
Think of a time your dad taught you something without saying a word, and write it.Angle: you watched him wait, share, say sorry or try again. Describe only what you saw.
Write about a song, a whistle or a clapping rhythm your dad taught you, and where the two of you perform it.Angle: the car, the kitchen, the walk to the bus. Find out who taught him.
Write about a thing your dad taught you by getting it wrong first.Angle: a tent, a shortcut, a recipe. Say what you both know now.
Write about something your dad taught you about animals: how to hold one, feed one or leave one alone.Angle: a dog you did not know, a bird in the garage, a fish to put back.
Write about something your dad taught you that his own mother or father taught him.Angle: say how it changed on the way down, and who you plan to teach next.
Write about the day your dad taught you to throw, catch or kick a ball, and what the ball did instead.First line: The first one went over the fence, and so did the second.
Your dad taught you a word or an odd fact that you have been using ever since: write where it came from.Angle: where you were when he told you, and the first time you got to say it yourself.
Your father taught you a game: write its rules the way he explains them, and include the rule he made up.Angle: checkers, a card game, a guessing game for long drives.
A thank-you letter 15
Hide a thank-you letter to your dad where he will find it later: in a shoe, a lunch bag or the glove box.Angle: short enough to read standing up. Say where the next one is hidden.
In a Father's Day letter, thank your dad for one thing he does that embarrasses you, and admit one good thing about it.First line: Thank you for honking twice when you drop me off. Once would do.
Let the lawn, the car or the family dog write your dad a thank-you letter, since they cannot hold a pen.First line: On behalf of the grass, thank you for Saturday.
Thank your dad in a letter for a morning: he wakes you, feeds you or gets you out the door.Angle: what he calls up the stairs, and how many times.
Thank your dad in a letter for carrying things: you, the bags, the couch, the sleeping dog.Angle: start with the heaviest thing you ever saw him lift and work down to the lightest.
Thank your dad in a letter for staying calm one time when you could not.Angle: a spill, a wrong turn, a broken window. Give his exact words if you can.
Thank your dad in a letter for the way he cheers: what he yells, how far it carries, what it does to you.First line: I could hear you from the far goal, and so could the other team.
Thank your dad, in a letter, for a time he changed his mind.Angle: what he said first, what you said back, the moment he said all right.
Thank your father, in a letter, for a bedtime story he made up on the spot.Angle: the hero's name, the part that made no sense, how it ended when he got sleepy.
Write a Father's Day letter thanking your dad for a question he always asks, and at last give the long answer.First line: You ask how school was every day. Here is how school was.
Write a Father's Day thank-you letter for something your dad built, put together or painted for you.Angle: how long it took, the piece left over, where it stands now.
Write your dad a Father's Day thank-you letter for the time he let you do it yourself, though it took far longer.First line: It took me nine tries to park the wheelbarrow, and you counted none of them.
Write your dad a letter thanking him for a place he took you that became your place too.Angle: a diner, a creek, a bench outside the barber's. Say what you do there.
Write your dad a thank-you letter for the worst day out the two of you ever had, and say why you would go again.First line: Thank you for the fishing trip where we caught a boot.
Write your dad's Father's Day thank-you as a receipt: list what he gave, and mark every line paid with a hug.First line: One bike repair. Two rides to practice. Forty bad puns, no charge.
Someone who fathers 15
Father's Day at your house belongs to a mom, a grandma or an aunt: write her the card and say why it is hers.Angle: the bike chain, the tie for picture day, the pep talk at the door.
Fill a Father's Day page about an uncle who shows up: name three times he was there and what he brought.Angle: a folding chair, a bag of oranges, a spare glove.
Give a stepdad a Father's Day note about the day the two of you found something you both like.First line: It turns out we both hate the same song.
List the names you call the person who fathers you, and write the story behind the best one.Angle: Pop, Papa, Coach, his first name, a nickname nobody else uses.
Make a Father's Day card for a foster dad or a guardian that tells the story of one meal at his table.Angle: what was served, where you sat, who told the best story.
Say a Father's Day thank-you to a teacher, a scout leader or a crossing guard who looks out for you like a dad.First line: You have told me to zip my coat every morning since October.
Slip a grandpa a Father's Day letter about the thing he does better than your dad, and promise not to tell.First line: Your grilled cheese is better, and that stays between us.
Tell about a neighbor, a family friend or a godfather who taught you one thing a dad might, and the afternoon you learned it.Angle: how he found out you did not know, and what he said about it.
Title a page What a Dad Is and fill it with only things done by the person who fathers you, whoever that is.Angle: no dictionary words. Only what he, she or they did this month.
Write a Father's Day letter to a grandfather who helps raise you, about what the two of you do when nobody else is around.Angle: the shed, the crossword, the walk to get the paper.
Write a Father's Day portrait of a coach who treats the whole team like his own kids.Angle: what he says after a loss, who he waits with, what he keeps in his bag.
Write about a big brother or an older cousin who acts like a dad when it counts.First line: He is seventeen, and he walks on the street side of the sidewalk.
Write about the first time someone who is not your father did a dad thing for you.First line: He waited at the bus stop until I waved from the window.
Write one Father's Day story with two dads in it, or a dad and a stepdad, where each one saves the day once.Angle: a stuck zipper and a forgotten lunch. Decide who gets which.
Write to a dad or a grandfather who is far away now, and give him the score of everything this week.Angle: the game, the spelling test, the argument about the dishes. He would want numbers.
How it works
These Father's Day writing prompts lean on what a dad does, since that is easier to write than what he is. Fifteen are for a grandfather, a stepdad, an uncle or whoever does the fathering.
Read the full guide
Lessons to write down
Fifteen prompts start from a lesson: a knot, a coin trick, a game with one rule he made up, the tool the writer was finally allowed to hold. A few ask for steps clear enough that a friend could follow them, so he can check the page for mistakes.
A portrait without the word best
The portrait prompts look at him closely instead: asleep in a chair, on the phone, packing the car, hunting for something he has lost. One asks for his owner's manual, starting with how to start him in the morning.
A handwritten page fits inside a card. Fold it once and tuck it in.
Pick the prompt that makes you laugh first. He will hear it in the writing.
Questions and answers
What are good writing prompts for Father's Day?
Ones about something he really did. Thank him for the worst day out the two of you ever had, tell the story of his greatest board game win and how he acted afterward, or describe every pair of his shoes.
When is Father's Day?
In the United States it is the third Sunday in June. The holiday grew from a celebration held in Spokane, Washington, on June 19, 1910, and became a permanent national holiday in 1972.
What if the person who fathers a child is not their dad?
A quarter of the list is for that, in the group Someone who fathers. One is a card for a mom, a grandma or an aunt, if Father's Day at your house is hers. Another tells the story behind the best name you call him.
What is a short Father's Day writing prompt?
Thank him, in a letter, for a time he changed his mind. It needs only three things: what he said first, what you said back, and the moment he said all right.