Oh, Gawd. Alf had been preparing to take refuge in the Eketahuna Club while Children’s Day was celebrated tomorrow.
But he had better get moving now and take refuge today.
He knew Children’s Day is officially marked on Sunday 3 March. Forewarned was forearmed.
But his colleague and good friend , Paula Bennett, has just advised him (here) the entire weekend will see communities get together across the country to celebrate children and positive parenting.
“Hundreds of events are happening around the country this weekend to mark this special day,” Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said.
Events include enjoy bouncy castles, music, face painting, treasure hunts, and fun activities for children and families.
“This is a chance to have a laugh with your kids, and get together with other families to celebrate the enduring theme, Treasure Our Children.”
Nope. It’s time to get out of the way while these antics are going on around us.
Fair to say, Bennett has injected a serious element into her media statement:
“Children depend on adults to care for them, and we all have a responsibility for their welfare and wellbeing. This is a time when we can reflect on the best ways give our children the support and security they need.”
“It’s also a time to think about the children who don’t have supportive parents and who live in abusive homes – we need to speak up for them.”
Fair to say, furthermore, that she has taken the opportunity to remind the public they are blessed by having a wonderfully caring government.
Following the release of the White Paper last year, the Children’s Action Plan is already underway, with a clear focus on protecting vulnerable children.
And then there’s the reminder that families shouldn’t be relying on the government to do all the caring and protecting (especially a cash-strapped government which is trying to get its books in order because Helen Clark’s mob was so profligate).
In other words, we all have a part to play.
“We all have a responsibility to protect children in our wider families and communities, this country can and will do better for New Zealand children.”
But take a butcher’s at some of the events that have been lined up for our families.
The weekend’s events include parenting information, healthy eating and home safety tips and various social sector representatives will be on hand to answer questions or concerns.
Healthy eating?
Home safety?
This leaves the Grumbles strongly suspecting Paula has lowered her guard and let a bunch of lefties and greenies do the planning.
She seems sadly oblivious to how mindlessly Nanny State things have become.
If she had thought hard about it she could have suggested to cabinet how money could be saved by opting out of all this pap.
But no. Instead…
Mrs Bennett will be attending Toddler Day Out at the Trusts Arena in Auckland tomorrow to celebrate Children’s Day.
“This is a fantastic day out for under-fives and their families. Thanks to the dedication of Violence Free Waitakere and the ECE Network of Waitakere, the year marks the 10th anniversary of the event – a great milestone.”
“I encourage parents and caregivers to check out what’s happening in their community. If you can’t make it to an event, you might like to have a special family activity at home to mark the day,” Mrs Bennett said.
“What matters the most is taking the time to let your children know how special they are.”
In Alf’s household, when the little buggers were growing up, we let them know how special they were every day of the year.
We did not need “Children’s Day” to remind us.
At this juncture Alf observes with some consternation that the Wairarapa SPCA and Child, Youth and Family have come together for the first time to celebrate International Children’s Day (see here).
That brings things dangerously close to home.
SPCA manager Val Ball said they were holding a pet afternoon at the centre, including a bouncy castle and a free sausage sizzle.
Free?
Nobody is picking up the tab?
CYF senior practitioner Jenny Milne said there were many families both organisations worked with so it made sense to bring the two together.
“It’s a nice match – animals and children,” she said.
“The object is to get the kids to learn a little bit about handling animals and realising kids have the same needs as animals,” said Mrs Ball.
Yep. They need to eat, just as Alf’s dog Crusher (named after guess who?) needs to eat. And his grandson’s pet sheep Shearer (destined to be roasted next election day, by the way) needs to eat.
Kids aren’t too strong on table manners, either.
And nor are they too strong on rushing to the nearest dunny for peeing and pooing.
Mrs Grumble has done Alf a big favour by dipping into Wikipedia (here) to learn a bit more about the occasion.
She found –
Children’s Day is recognized on various days in many places around the world, to honor children globally. It was established in 1954 to protect children working long hours in dangerous circumstances and allow all children access to an education.
Get that?
We Kiwis don’t send our kids up chimneys to clean them any more, and we do provide schools for them, although some of the ingrates make life hell for their teachers and other students and should never have been born.
This just goes to show how something with a worthy objective for some people can be debased by do-gooders who push it into countries like New Zealand which don’t need it.
The influence of the pinkos is obvious too.
International Day for Protection of Children, observed in many countries as Children’s Day on June 1 since 1950, was established by the Women’s International Democratic Federation on its congress in Moscow (22 November 1949) and was strongly bound to the Stalin`s “peace propaganda” policy .
Just one final thought.
Paula said Children’s Day is “a time to think about the children who don’t have supportive parents and who live in abusive homes…”
That thought will be induced how, exactly, by brats scoffing sausages, bouncing up and down on a bouncy castle, then throwing up?
Alf Grumble 