BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRE-SCHOOLERS and toddlers boldly lit up the stage at Carnival City Tuesday night (Jun. 24) in a display of talent and creativity at the Child Month Costume Festival.
The show was one of the activities that make up the 30th celebration of Child Month which is centred on the theme “Child Month at 30 – Celebrating Our Achievements".
Children attending each of the pre-schools throughout St. Kitts took to the stage and gave a display based on the Child Month themes over the last 30 years.
The show opened with three little girls of Slack Pre-School, beautifully decked in the Federation's national wear, proudly singing the National Anthem. Although they were only between the ages of three and five, they showed no sign of stage fright and eloquently sang Anthem.
The nurseries in St. Kitts entertained parents, family members and teachers with a fanfare. They each graced the stage in various costumes depicting a balloon theme. They wowed the crowd as they bounced and jumped around on the stage to the popular song ‘Happy’ by Pharell.
Then it was the pre-schoolers' time to shine!
Although they did not do any major displays, each school sent strong messages based on the themes they were representing.
The Pilgrim Pre-School, which represented the 1991 theme "Caring families make better communities", displayed a nuclear family. The family entered a makeshift home surrounded by a police officer, a nurse and a teacher, which depicted that the family's care and proper upbringing of children produce prominent people in the community.
The children of Slack Pre-School depicted seven little knights who defended the children of the Federation and fought for their rights. Each knight defended the right to love, eat healthy foods, get an education, live in a clean environment, have knowledge of God, live in a safe home, and develop their talents.
The Love Centre Pre-School represented the year 2000 under the theme "Empowering children for the new millennium" and displayed placards with the various tools with which parents empower their children, including employment, economy and technology.
"Listen to Me" was the 2002 theme and this was displayed by the Wings of Love Pre-School, which saw its children strutting the stage in ear-shaped hats and placards which encouraged parents and family members to stop watching the television and take their eyes off the computers, among other things, and listen to the little children.
The 2006 Child Month’s theme was "Unlock the Virtues in Me" and the children of the Royal Palm Pre-School received high praise for their performance, which portrayed two children using a huge key to unlock a box. Each time the box was unlocked a child stepped out and boldly stated the virtues he or she had hidden inside them.
Compassion, kindness, creativity, forgiveness, patience, modesty, honesty, care and perseverance were just some of the virtues the children possessed.
Another resounding performance came from the Holy Spirit Catholic Pre-School which represented the 2010 theme of "Save our men, children need fathers too". Their act told a story of a father who came home late from work to find his son waiting up for him.
The son asked him how much money he made in one hour at work to which he replied: "It is none of your business." After much persistence from the child the father finally stated that he made $25 per hour. The son then asked to borrow $10 and this angered the father and he sent the little boy straight to bed.
After calming down and realising the child might have needed something of importance, the father went to his son's room, apologised and gave him the money. To his surprise the child took some crumpled bills from his pocket and added to $10 to it. Realising he had $25 in total, he gave the money to his father and asked: "Dad, can I buy an hour of your time?"
The moral of the story was that parents’ jobs can easily keep them away from their families and, most often, it is the children who feel the pain and pay the price.
SKNVibes spoke with Haddiya Jeffers, one of the organisers, who stated that the show was a success despite the fact that all of the schools were unable to participate. Of the 30 schools that were expected to perform, Jeffers explained that only 25 were present.
Jeffers declared that they would be looking to improve the Festival in the new year.
