International Children's Day

Today is International Children's Day around the world.

The International Children's Day (ICD) is celebrated in numerous countries, mostly on June 1 each year.

The ICD had its origin in the World Conference for the Wellbeing of Children in Geneva, Switzerland in 1925. It is not clear as to why June 1 was chosen as the ICD: one theory has it that the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco (USA) gathered a number of Chinese orphans to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in 1925, which happened to be on June 1 that year, and also coincided with the conference in Geneva. June 1 has since been observed as the ICD by numerous countries, especially by Communist countries. In the Western world the ICD is usually celebrated on other days of the year (if at all), and there is often little public awareness about these celebrations.

From what I can find for information relating to China, the kids get the afternoon off school and spend the rest of the day doing kid things with the families - going to parks, going bowling, someone said that McDonalds and Pizza Hut are really really busy today. (McDonalds - the international symbol for being a kid) Everything happens today and tomorrow is back to normal.