On the second Saturday of January the Thai people celebrate Children's Day by taking their children out to have fun. Many local authorities organise special events and other places of interests usually let children in for half price or even for free on this day.

Children are considered as the most valuable resource of the country. There is a Thai saying that goes, "Children are the future of the nation, if the children are intelligent, the country will be prosperous." To help stimulate children to be aware of their significant role in the country, the National Children's Day was held for the first time on the first monday of October 1955 and continued like this until 1963. Then it was changed to the second Saturday of January.

Students from our school wrote about what they did on Children's Day this year. The pictures above show the Naval Museum in Samut Prakan which had special events for children on that day.

Wichaya (a twelve year old girl): "On Children's Day, I went to Ancient City with my friends. My father drove the car for us around the park. We saw lots of interesting Thai buildings. There was a waterfall with a lot of rocks. I climbed on the rocks with my friends and took a lot of pictures. We ate lunch at the floating market. I ate noodles with beef. It tasted so good. We went home at about 3.00 p.m. I didn't want to go home. I liked it there so much. I want to go there again."

Chonticha (a twelve year old girl): "On Children's Day, I went to the Crocodile Farm. It was free for children. I went with my mother, sisters and my aunt. I watched the Elephant Show and the Wreslting Crocodile Show. After that I looked at the crocodiles and the other animals and ate some food. We then sat on a train around the Crocodile Farm."

Rewadee (a twelve year old girl): "In the morning I went to the town hall with my family. The weather was very hot. There were many children playing games. Next we went by bus to the Navy Academy. We went on a big boat and watched a dog show. It was fun.