5th June, 2015
Two US states will officially mark Children’s Day on the second Sunday in June this year after Alaska recently joined Illinois in acknowledging the day.
A number of church denominations in the US – including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church – have long celebrated the day as do a number of cities but Illinois became the first state to officially acknowledge it in 2007. Alaska voted to do so last month.
Supporters of the day have launched a petition calling on US President Barack Obama to officially proclaim the day across the country.
"Americans recognise Mother”s Day, Father”s Day… so why not a national Children”s Day?" supporters write on the Children’s Day website. "A day that revives, celebrates, and commits to our children and their future."
Supporters claim the observation of a Children’s Day in the US predates that of both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
Internationally, the UN’s General Assembly passed a resolution in 1954 declaring the 20th November ‘Universal Children’s Day’.
~ www.un.org/en/events/childrenday/
– DAVID ADAMS
