BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE 2010 Child Month celebrations, which spanned over the month of June, officially concluded on Wednesday, June 30 with organisers naming the observance a success.
Held under the theme “Save Our Men; Children Need Fathers Too”, the month placed much emphasis on the role of fathers in the development of the nation’s youths, while maintaining its traditional focus on the youths themselves.
It featured a number of traditional activities, including three fun days - one in Basseterre, one in rural west and the other in rural east; a food fair; a promotional fair; a family food fair and concert dubbed “Kittitian Spice”; and a panel discussion, which featured five fathers from across the country.
Resource teacher at the Early Childhood Development Unit (ECDU), Valarie Dolphin spoke exclusively with SKNVibes and explained that this year was the first in the history of the observance of Child Month that a theme had focused on the patriarchal unit of families.
She said innovations were incorporated into this year’s activities in the form of a cricket match and a “Fathers in Focus” day.
“We had a 10/10 cricket match at the Patsy Allers Playing Field and we had two teams which were comprised of the Early Childhood workers and parents. We had a mixed team which had persons from the urban and rural areas and the other team had persons from Basseterre West. It was very exciting and the Basseterre West team won with 104 for five wickets. The other team made 45 runs at the end of the 10 overs,” Dolphin explained.
“On the Fathers in Focus Day, centres were free to organise any type of activity with fathers in mind. One centre held parent/teachers meetings for fathers only and they had special guest speakers. Some had fathers coming to the centres around-the-clock to help with the cooking, devotion and anything else that the teachers and domestic staff would normally do,” she added.
The activities culminated with a parade through the streets of Basseterre and drew thousands, including hundreds of fathers. The Resource teacher said she was proud of the commitment exhibited by the fathers and noted that their participation added immensely to the success of the activities.
“The fathers really came out in their numbers and they really represented themselves very well. They rose to the occasion and they were proud of what they did. We are also proud of what they did.”
