Here’s an important question for fellow dads out there: How will you celebrate Father’s Day next week?

Plans among dads I know are mixed. Some are psyched to spend the day engaging in “me time,” whether that means 18 holes at the local golf course, three hours in front of baseball or NASCAR on TV or poker with some buddies. Others are all about family, and don’t want to spend a moment away from the very kiddies that have made them dads.

One friend, when grilled at a birthday party yesterday evening, said he’ll spend Father’s Day doing “whatever [his wife] tells me to do.”

All of these varying opinions have me thinking about the purpose of Father’s Day as a whole. Is it to take a day off from all of the typical duties of being a dad? Is it to celebrate daddyhood by embracing it even more tightly than normal? Is it just to inspire our families to say thanks?

I’ve checked some history on this one. The first Father’s Day is believed to have been held in 1910, through the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd (a woman) of Spokane, Wash. As the story goes, Dodd had heard a church sermon about Mother’s Day and felt dads should have some sort of honorary day as well. A tradition was born (though it didn’t become national law until 1966).

I plan to spend next Sunday hanging with my wife and daughter. We’ll have breakfast at our favorite Greasy Spoon, play in the park, go to the pool and grill on the patio before bedtime.

Personally, I’d say there’s no better way to celebrate being a father than by being with the people who’ve made me a dad. In my book, those dads who see Father’s Day as an excuse to check-out just don’t get what this fatherhood thing is all about.