CHILDREN’S DAY

Children’s Day (Bal Diwas) is in real a day of celebration for the children, parents and the teachers, or you can say a day to celebrate “Childhood.” A tribute is given to all the children of the whole world on the Children’s Day. Children are loved by one and all, there is barely somebody on the earth who don’t love or like children. It is said that the children are an incarnation of the God. They win over our hearts with their angelic eyes, funny activities, clear hearts, misarticulating voice and innocent smiles. It makes one realize that perhaps that’s the way God wanted us all to be.

14^th November is celebrated as the Children’s Day in India, this date marks the birth anniversary of Independent India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. The day is marked with a lot of activities for children. But the fact remains that only a segment of the country’s children in reality have an opportunity to celebrate their existence this way on this special day completely dedicated to the children.

Various events and activities like, drama, fancy dress, poem recitation, debate competition, drawing competition, quiz competition, cultural dances, and various sports activities etc., are organized by the schools, that their students thoroughly enjoy, but on the other side, there is an entire populace of young ones that are left ignored on this special day (Children’s Day) — the downtrodden street children or those kids living in the slums of the country. They also have right to celebrate this day. But they don’t have even basic amenities of life, you can gift them some books or can sponsor any one of them so that they can also get education and could become a good citizen.

Celebrating Children’s Day is about providing children their special rights and the privileges they sought, so that they can grow into a healthy environment and become educated citizens of the country. Dietrich Bonhoeffer has written that, “The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.”

What Can You Do?

Rather than celebrating it with pomposity in schools, homes, clubs and hotels, why not bring a little difference into the lives of millions of children who are poor. For many parents, it is a significant date and they take initiative to celebrate Children's Day for their children by giving gifts and spend the day with their children in movie theatres, restaurants, hotels, picnic spots, shopping malls, zoos, children parks, and other such places which makes children happy to make them feel special.

Hence, while this day was worldwide instituted to provide children with their basic Rights, maybe one can change things to a child’s life, who is downtrodden by poverty by doing something special. However, this day comes every year but what about making a difference this year by donating clothes, shoes, toys, stationery, books, bags, cards, atlases, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. You also can send free gifts to the children on this Children’s Day.

Activities to do on the Children’s Day

• Crown your child King of Queen of Children’s Day: You can help your child to make a crown for himself/herself. Then you can officially crown him/her King or Queen of the Children’s Day.
• Make a plan together: Ask your child about what they would like to do on the Children’s Day. Look on the children’s day website to see whether there are any events in your area that you could go along to.
• Drawing and Storytelling: Allow your child to draw and colour anything he or she wants. When finished, ask your child to tell you about his or her picture. Appreciate his work and effort, and you also can give him some gift in return.
• Give Toys and Clothes to Charity: You can give toys and clothes to the poor children living in your locality, or you can encourage your child to give toys, clothes, books, color pens, shoes, etc., to them. Your child will experience the joy of giving.
• Inviting your Child’s Friends: You can tell your child to invite his friends and organize them to play a quiz game, or making collage with stickers, painting or drawing, or storytelling. And arrange for some prize like a pack of color pens, or a pack of crayons, or a nice school bag, or a good lunch box or water bottle, or a series of good books, etc. It will make them play these activities and games with interest.
• Educational Trips: Children's Day can be made an exciting day by taking children on educational trips. These educational trips can be conducted to the places like Planetarium, Science Center, museum, zoo, or any historical place, etc. At the end of the trip, some gifts, toys and sweets may be distributed amongst children to make them feel happy and enjoy the trip.