Children's Day Activities Nationwide

[george]

Children's Day activities nationwide

BANGKOK, Jan 8 (TNA) – Thai children are welcome to celebrate this year's Children's Day at various places throughout the kingdom.

In Bangkok, the Office of the Prime Minister, in cooperation with various state agencies and the private sector, organize activities to celebrate the Children’s Day on Saturday at the Government House.

The activities include games, stage shows, quiz competitions for prizes, and performances by singers, according to the chief organiser, M.L. Panasarn Husdin, who is also the Deputy Permanent

Secretary for the Prime Minister’s Office.

He urged parents to bring their children to take part in the Children’s Day activities at the Government House.

Among the agencies joining in organising the event are the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the Public Relations Department, Chulalongkorn and Mahidol Universities, Government Savings Bank (GSB), and Bangkok Bank.

The Department of Health and the Education Ministry also jointly hold a Children’s Day fair at the Suppachalasai National Stadium.

In provincial areas, including the six southern tsunami-stricken provinces--Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun--the public and private sectors also organize activities for local childrens.

In Phang-nga, which was hardest hit by the 26 December's massive tsunamis, children appeared to enjoy various activities organized for them in Takua Pa District, but said they still want new uniforms, houses and schools, to replace the ones damaged by the giant waves, as precious presents for this year's Children's Day, according to a TNA reporter there.

In the North, children in Chiang Mai are welcome to visit the Chiang Mai Zoo free of charges. They can enjoy looking on cute 'Xuang Xuang' and 'Lin Huey'--the panda couple from China--and white female tigers, 'Kiew Muk' and Kiew Kaew'--the zoo's new members--all the day; while children in the nearby Chiang Rai Province are welcome to sight-seeing flights around the city provided by local airlines and to have a study tour on board Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI)'s planes.

MCOT Public Company Limited (MCOT)'s radio stations in many provinces also join forces with other agencies in the public and private sectors in organizing activities for local childrean, including junior radio news broadcasters' games and study tours inside local radio studios.

--TNA 2005-01-08

[george]

Kids want new homes, new bikes

PHANG NGA: --On the occasion of National Children's Day today, the youngsters affected by the tsunamis said yesterday that as far as gifts were concerned they wanted new bicycles and new homes to replace those they lost in the disaster.

Jirapat Thongrong, 10, who is staying at a temporary shelter in Takua Pa district's Tambon Bang Munag, said he would like his house to be rebuilt as soon as possible and that he would also like to have a new bicycle to ride to school on.

Jirapat said that he and his parents had survived the waves by managing to run away in time but that his house was gone. "I would like to ride a bicycle with friends and want to go back to live in my house as soon as possible," he said.

Wasin Thepbutr, 9, lost his younger brother, sister and grandmother in the waves. He is now staying at the same temporary shelter.

"I just want a bicycle. I don't want a new house, because my mum will take me to live in Bangkok. We're too afraid to live here," Wasin said.

Another boy, seven-year-old Paithat Sricha-em, also staying at the shelter, said he wanted a new house and new toys.

"I want a house because I want to go back to live in my house, and I would like a lot of new toys," he said.

The boy said that he had managed to survive because, as the waves carried him away, he managed to latch onto a tree in a nearby mangrove forest. His parents also survived.

Sommai Chanakul, director of the Phang Nga education zone, said no Children's Day celebration would be organised at the schools in the areas affected by the tsunami because children there were still saddened by the loss of family members.

He said 11 students had become orphans, losing both parents in the waves. Another 177 students had a parent missing, while another 172 students saw a parent killed.

Schools in Phuket also announced that they would not organise Children's Day celebrations, owing to the grief of many students.

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Adults are impatient and selfish, polled kids say

Impatience and selfishness, these are the flaws of adult that half of children in Bangkok and nearby provinces surveyed in a new Abac poll ranked as the worst. Toys and computer games were what most wanted as gifts for Children’s Day. Pilots and stewardesses were what most boys and girls wanted to be when they grew up.

The survey was conducted on teenagers aged between 11 and 17 ahead of Children’s Day. Fifty per cent of young respondents ranked impatience as the worst character flaw in adults, followed closely by selfishness (45 per cent) and a violent temperament (41 per cent).

Fifty-seven per cent of those polled wished to get toys and computer games for Children’s Day, followed by cash (53 per cent) and a visit to the zoo or an amusement park (52 per cent).

More than half the youngsters said they were satisfied with their lives, while 34 per cent said they were not, listing parental abuse, being thwarted in their desires, and traffic jams.

One third of the children did not know what they wanted to be as adults. Fourteen per cent of boys and girls who said they did ranked the jobs of pilot and air hostess at the top, followed by doctors and nurses at 10 per cent and teachers at 9 per cent. The job of politician was ranked at the bottom of the list, with the job of prime minister ranked seventh. Nevertheless, some 5,000 children have sent New Year wishes to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a source at Government House said yesterday in an unrelated development.

While most youngsters wished Thaksin well and encouraged support for the government, some asked him to tone down his more exaggerated pronouncements, the source said.

Some children praised Pojaman Shinawatra for exemplifying the virtues of a leader’s spouse.

Meanwhile Sommai Chanakul, director of the Phang Nga educational-zone office, said there would be regular Children’s Day celebrations at schools except in areas badly affected by the tsunami, where children were not in the mood for celebration. Eleven children became orphans. As many as 172 children lost either their mother or father in the disaster, while a parent of another 177 children was still missing.

--The Nation 2005-01-08

[sbk]

We had a few airforce jets do a flyover here for the kids and my husband just read in the Thai news online that one of them crashed on landing . Not a very pleasant outcome for children on childrens day.

[george]

Plane crashes during Children’s Day air display

SA KAEW: -- Two pilots were believed to have been killed this afternoon when their plane crashed during an air display to mark National Children’s Day.

Witnesses said that the training F16 fighter plane crashed and exploded during the display in Thailand's eastern province of Sa Kaeow after touching down on the runway.

None of the spectators were hurt in the incident, which occurred at a distance from where they were standing.

--TNA 2005-01-08