In 1954, it was decided that Universal Children’s Day would be celebrated on the 20th of November, each year. This also marks the anniversary of the date when the declaration and convention on children’s rights were adopted by the UN General Assembly. Though Children’s Day is celebrated on the 20th of November by most countries, some countries have adopted other dates for the occasion. India celebrates Children’s Day on the 14th of November, Australia celebrates the occasion on the fourth Wednesday in October, and the United States holds a similar occasion on the first Sunday in June.
History of Universal Children’s Day
The UN General Assembly first announced the concept of Children’s Day in 1954 to bring children of all races, castes, and creeds together, and for the welfare of children across the world. UNICEF World Children’s Day celebrates the youngest minds of the world by encouraging brotherhood and fraternity and highlighting the importance of the well-being of children. Over the years, Children’s Day around the world has promoted a number of causes, such as eradicating HIV/Aids, promoting the education of all children, and more. On November 20th 1989, the UN General Assembly signed a treaty to protect the social, civil, economic, health, cultural, and political rights of children to deal with child-specific needs for children across borders and act in their best interest.
(Source: Firstcry.com)
Children are our future – so the responsibility of shaping our future is in our hands. The objective of Universal Children’s Day is to Reimagine a better future for every child! Right from working on climate change to taking refugee and migrant children under their wing; people out there are making small in-roads into ensuring that the children get a future they deserve.
With Covid19 still impacting our lives, we need to build better ways to reach out to and respond to the crisis of the future that the children are ushering into. Already, lockdown has taught us many things that life on a fast mode didn’t. So here are a few activities we can undertake, depending on the age of the kid.
– Let kids understand the concept of food and eating healthy foods. Help them grow a small patch of herbs or a vegetable garden on your balcony.
– Get them to visit farms and fields. Gives them fresh air and a good day outdoors to spend family time and lots of learning too!
– Get them oriented into community problems and let them think of solutions. Provide them inputs as they keep thinking of solutions. You can even propose the solution plan to the city council if you feel it is good enough.
– Help them provide their volunteering services for the community. (This can only be done once the Covid19 situation ends). Helping them visit old age homes, orphanages or animal shelters helps them tune into the disadvantaged and teaches them to learn to share and be compassionate.
– Get them to engage in artwork. Sculpting, music, dance or fine arts – all these pursuits enable kids to appreciate life later. Art is a therapeutic and expressive medium.
– Catch them young with entrepreneurship skills. Thinking of finance, work, savings, spending and management aspects of entrepreneurship can boost their skills for adult life. It also teaches them valuable lessons on professional and personal life and balancing them.
– Rights Awareness is of prime importance. Kids need to know their rights. Also match it with their responsibilities and how they need to be better aware of their rights in order to get more life-oriented and empowered.
Let’s together shape their future that’s full of hope, awareness, skills and compassion. The world needs people who understand and appreciate life and not make chaos and anarchy.
TAGS: AWARENESS, CHILD, CHILDREN’S DAY, FUTURE, KIDS, UNIVERSAL CHILDREN’S DAY
