Staff made sure everything was pristine for the visit, as the residents got ready in the first floor hall, and both ladies did their best to break the ice as they went around the hall chatting casually with all those present.

Ms Cristina and Ms D’Amato presented those residents of the home who are fathers with gifts to commemorate Father’s Day this Sunday – a pot plant and a wrapped present. They conveyed their best wishes to all fathers as well as those who are not fathers but who honour fatherhood by the example they set as father figures.

The long-held notion that a loving and nurturing father figure is important for the child’s all round development – emotional, social and academic – had been confirmed by research, said Ms Cristina.

Ms D’Amato stressed the importance of celebrating fatherhood among the elderly in residential homes. Father’s Day is a day when each and every one of us recalls our father, she said.

Ms D’Amato also said that society must empathise with those who, for some reason or other, have been deprived of having a supportive father at their side, as well as those whose fathers are either suffering ill-health or who have passed away. “Today my thoughts are with those fathers who have been neglected by their children. I would like to encourage children to visit their fathers, not just on this day but throughout the year,” she said.

Ms Cristina spoke of the origins of Father’s Day, which was first celebrated on 19 June 1910 in Washington. A certain Ms Dodd wanted a special day to honour her father, William Smart, who was widowed and left to raise a new-born baby and his other five children by himself.

Growing up, Ms Dodd realised the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent, Ms Cristina said, adding that Mr Smart remains an ideal role model for fathers today.

Meanwhile, in a statement to mark Father’s Day, the National Commission for the Family sent its warm wishes to all fathers. The commission said it would like to acknowledge the contribution of fathers to the family and their valuable role as a parent, and would like to encourage fathers to participate more in family life.

“Both parents must seek to complement each other in the family’s best interest, thus also offering healthy and balanced role models to their children,” said the statement.