Communities, individuals, and churches are preparing for the Sunday’s “Children’s Day.”
Since 2007 and again this year, the governor of Illinois has proclaimed “Children’s Day” the second Sunday in June. Cities such as Aurora, Batavia, Fort Collins, Colo., and Vancouver, Wash., have issued proclamations. The 2018 proclamations by Illinois governor Bruce Rauner and others are viewable at www.nationalchildrensday.us.
Children’s Day observations in the United States predate both Mother’s and Father’s Day. The day to celebrate children goes back to the 1860s and earlier. The Methodist Episcopal Church at the Methodist Conference of 1868 recommended that the second Sunday in June be observed annually as Children’s Day. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1883 designated the “the second Sabbath in June as Children’s Day.”
Numerous churches and denominations observe the second Sunday in June including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Church of the Nazarene.
The Children’s Day website, www.nationalchildrensday.us, offers help and challenges parents, individuals, churches/houses of worship, schools/places of education, government/community and businesses to sign commitment cards directed at affirming America’s children.
— NationalChildrensDay.us
