10 January 2009, 8:08 am
Thailand's National Children's Day event was first celebrated on the first Monday of October 1955 and continued to be held at that time of year until 1963. Then the celebration was shifted to the second Saturday of January and has remained so since then.
Thai tradition holds that children are considered to be the most valuable resources of the nation.The government has set up a special committee to co-ordinate with several agencies in both public and private sectors to organize the celebration simultaneously throughout the country.
The prime objectives of the day's events are to enable children to realise their importance in Thai society, to become disciplined, to be industrious in their study, make use of their time wisely, to be helpful to each other, to keep their country clean and conserve the natural environment and public property, to be aware of what is right and their duties and responsibilities towards society, to be proud of their country, Buddhist religion and the instituton of the Monarchy, and believe in a democratic system having the King as the head of state. Now those are indeed noble goals worthy of pursuit.
The shift of the time for celebrating Children's Day is much more appropriate, too, as the harvest season is well over, the rainy season is still several months away, and people are generally looking for something to do whiile the weather is at its best. Today the weather was ideal, neither hot nor cold and that made it the appropriate time for such an occasion.
Children are a powerful force in the development and stability of the nation. Today in Thailand the focus of events and activities is on Children's Day which is celebrated at nearly all schools, military installations, parks, university campuses, wats and temples and at shopping centers and entertainment venues nationwide. Although the majority of the festivities are aimed primarily at children under the age of 14, everywhere I looked there were swarms of high school children in attendance as well busily engaged in enjoying the festivities, the freebees (jargon or lingo for "free gifts" for those who haven't yet achieved "hipness" in the language) and the fun carnival-like games.
Parents tend to celebrate Children's Day by taking their children out to have fun and buy them gifts, special treats, clothing, shoes and toys. Thailand's version of Christmas. Afterall they are both holidays about children. We celebrate them both. And for us here at Tree of Life Orphanage there could be no better opportunity than this one to voyage out to the Buriram Rajabaht University Program followed by nearly free movies for the kids at Taweekit Super Store.
Many local authorities organize special events and other places of interests usually let children in for half price or even for free on this day. Children are considered as the most valuable resource of the country. There is a Thai saying that goes, "Children are the future of the nation, if the children are intelligent, the country will be prosperous." So it is just another means to help stimulate children to be aware of their significant role in the country. If children are aware of their own future and of the nation by behaving in such a way, they will be called "Worthy Children" and the country will be prosperous. Good kids mean less headaches for their parents.
Just in case you may be wondering what kids in Thailand are thinking about these days, here are the results of one such poll. A survey of 1,157 children aged between 10 and 15, conducted by ABAC during the time period of the 7th-9th of January and reported in the Bangkok Nation and Thai News Agency marking today's National Children's Day, found that children wanted gifts from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to mark their special day today. Listed among the things they wanted from either the government or their parents were computers, houses, cars, land plots, mobile phones, cash and toys, scholarships, free education and learning materials, as well as peace and unity in the country. Others wanted the governor to make Bangkok a more liveable city and improve the qualify of life. I couldn't agree more.
Many children in Bangkok also wanted political protests to end. They wanted adults who are staging political rallies to end their gatherings and live in peace. Many others wanted all conflicting groups to love one another, be united and unselfish, while others wanted them to donate goods such as sports equipment, toys and learning tools to children. Asked how they wanted adults to set a good example to children this year, the overwhelming majority said it could be achieved by everyone showing loyalty to the monarchy. Still others wanted adults to stop quarrelling, respect the law and show gratitude to the country. The survey found most children wanted love, caring and understanding from parents as gifts for Children's Day.
We also try to do our part at TOLO to raise model citizens. So today we opted to attend the festivities at BRU. This morning we gathered our brood in tow headed out at approximately 9 a.m. with a truckload of our own children. Ten of the younger children choose to come with us and piled into our pick-up, the other eight, the older, specifically the more sophisticated ones above 15, all went over to Wat Tamtiram to join in the activities there with their friends. Parking at BRU was at a premium and we had to hike quite far from the nearest parking place along Jira Road.
Oh my feet, my feet! These old sandals just don't serve their purpose for long hikes. Oh well, we alll need to take off some of that excess weight we piled on over the Christmas-New Year Holiday break period. Everywhere we looked crowds were gathered and kids were having fun. Thais are very social beings by their very nature and therefore they tend to merge easily and naturally into herds, hordes and flocks, so thus the crowds. Noah would have had a hard time separating them to get them on his Ark. It is a rare occasion indeed to find a Thai moving about alone. My kids were certainly in a festive mood. The ice cream was flowing forth and freely. So were candy treats and cookies for just being near a booth of any sort. So far so good. Until we made the move to Taweekit Superstore for the special today only "1 baht movie". Adults were not given discounts. Normal price. Everything was on the up and up, that is until the kids discovered the candy/popcorn counter where we ended up leaving behind a major stash of cash. Oh well, it's only paper.
Businessmen universally are wily critters. They know how to extract the last satang, penny, pence, sou or whatever the smallest denomination coins are available worldwide from the pocketbook of enraptured customers. And then, there are those ubiquitous ATM's everywhere, the convenience of a lifetime, beckoning each of us to come closer, yet closer. Reminds me of Count Dracula movies. "Look into my eyes. You are now in my power."
Anyway,the film "Gati" was great, the kids were happy and mom and I, well we were just temporarily worn out. Thank the stars, that she was too sleepy at this point to con me into funding another regular bi-weekly shoe shopping spree that provide her such "joei de vivre" as the French would say. When she looks at me with those big beautiful eyes and smiles so sweetly and declares, "honey, I need some new shoes," I can't help but blurt out "Do I look like Bill Gates, Imelda? (as in Marcos, the shoe lady from the Philippines--it's our family joke). Please have mercy on me. It's hard on an old cogger like me to stay focused on a shopping expedition that could possibly last an incredible six hours or more.
Still when 3:30 p.m. rolled around I was ready to head home for a well deserved nap. Somehow the kids were still raring to go. Ah, youth and excess energy wasted on the young. Overall opinions of our clan: Effective and Fun. Look forward to doing it all again next year.
Here are some of the things that happened around the nation on National Children's day 2009:
In Bangkok the Prime Minister allowed children to sit in his chair. Beware: Future prime ministers are lurking out there. In Surin, donors provided 47,000 baht for the programs being held by the local radio networks to boost the activiities for children. Future broadcasters got to test out their skills. But on a more somber note, in Roi-Et Province a skydiver accidentally fell on a ten year old child who was killed by the impact during a skydiving demonstarton at a military installation.
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