History of the holiday: who invented Children's Day?
The child welfare movement gained international significance in the late 1940s. The consequences of the Second World War persistently made themselves felt: millions of people died, the economies of thousands of cities collapsed, crowds of hungry street children appeared on the streets... At this turning point, a session of the International Democratic Federation of Women was held in Paris, where they proposed to establish a new holiday. It was November 1949. They didn’t put the new holiday on hold and in June 1950, Children’s Day was celebrated in 51 countries!
If the session of the women's federation took place in the fall, then why did June 1 become the starting point for the new holiday? Historians say that on the first day of summer in 1925, one of the first international actions took place. The Consul General of the People's Republic of China in the United States organized celebrations for the emigrant orphans on the occasion of the Chinese holiday in honor of the beginning of summer. At the same time, an international conference was held in Geneva, where the problems of the younger generation were discussed. So June 1 became International Children's Day.
International Children's Day flag. Source - mzgazeta.ru.
This is one of the few holidays that has a flag. It depicts figures of 5 children in red, blue, white, black and yellow. They stand around the circumference of the globe and hold hands tightly. The emblem says that people on the planet are different, but at the same time they are united. And the green background of the flag symbolizes growth and development.
In 1959, the United Nations drafted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which was a non-binding document. Thirty years later, an international document on children's rights appeared.
In 1990, the convention was ratified in the Soviet Union. And in 1998, our country adopted the Federal Law “On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation.” In it, the state recognizes childhood as an important stage in personal development and sets the task of preparing children for life within society: in particular, the education of high moral qualities, physical fitness and the development of creative skills.
What should children be protected from?
Every continent and every country has its own threats to the child population. And, of course, the problems of children in Africa and Europe are radically different. What threats exist to the lives and development of children around the world:
- military conflicts;
- lack of clean drinking water and hunger;
- inability to get an education;
- early sexual development;
- bullying at school;
- drug addiction;
- computer addiction (numerous studies indicate that even a seemingly harmless hobby for computer games becomes the cause of unmotivated child cruelty);
- destruction of traditional foundations and patterns of behavior (this problem is relevant in Japan. The penetration of Western habits and patterns of behavior into the culture of Japan causes concern among the indigenous people).
Also, the fragile children's psyche suffers due to scandals in families. Moreover, children themselves often become the target of aggression. Thus, according to the State Automated System “Justice”, in 80% of cases children are harmed by relatives and close people. In half of the cases this happens while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
In such a situation, the importance of social services and dialogue around laws on the decriminalization of domestic violence increases.
Preserving the physical and mental health of children is one of the main issues that educational institutions deal with. According to the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, several tens of millions of preventive examinations are carried out in the country. Over the course of several years, the number of schoolchildren with the first and second health groups has doubled - these are children without serious problems and functional deviations.
Take care and protect your child in any situation! The gentle parental control application “Where are my children” will help ensure the complete safety of your child, even when you are not around. You can download it from the AppStore and GooglePlay stores.
