Celebrating children 

Children, parents and some of the Family Fun Day
organisers get together and have plenty of fun at the
Family Fun Day that ended Child Month.


Wheelbarrow races were one of the many attractions.

Monday,  June  13, 2005

The Department of Children and Family Services dedicated the whole of May to children and hosted a number of events and activities that were used to raise awareness about the needs of the country’s children.

Child Month activities included church services recognizing and honouring people who have made valuable contributions to the lives of the children of the Cayman Islands; parenting workshops; and a Walk-a Thon for children, parents and pets. 

Jasmine Powell, Social Worker, and Coordinator of Child Month Activities, said:

“Child month is an international event. The general goal is to raise the awareness of our society and our community on issues that influence and impact the lives of our children, also to celebrate with our children the joys and pleasures of childhood.” 

Children and Family Services held five Family Fun Days at different districts around Grand Cayman which were designed to encourage parents to have fun with their kids. The Children and Family Services’ George Town Office originally planned their Fun Day for the end of May, but were put off until Saturday 4 June because of threatened bad weather. Bodden Town had their Fun Day on the same day, while West Bay had one previous Saturday. North Side and East End, both had Fun Days on 14 May.

Among the Fun Days’ many attractions were a visit by Sponge Bob Squarepants, a magic show, a girls’ football match, wheelbarrow races, limbo dancing, face painting, dancing contests and lucky dips. There was also plenty of food provided for everybody for free.

“The aim was to have social activities for parents and their children, for the children to have a day of fun,” said Verna Hunte, Social Work Supervisor for the Children and Family Services’ George Town office.

“The theme of Child Month was ‘Resilient Children, The Way Forward,’ Ms. Hunt said, “and the activities of the Family Fun Day were in keeping with that theme; we felt that having gone through the experience of Hurricane Ivan it was good for children to come out and have fun in a family atmosphere.” 

Ms. Powell said that Child Month had been a huge success, and all the activities were well supported. She expressed her thanks to the support from the corporate community, for their donations of cash, in ‘kind’ and the many people who had offered their time free of charge to make Child Month, and the various Family Fun Days that went with it, so successful. 
Ms Powell also thanked the members of the Child Month Committee and her colleagues in the Department of Children and Family Services for all their dedicated hard work in organising Child Month events.

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