International Family Day is celebrated every year since 1993.. Established by the General Assembly of the United Nations, it reflects the importance that the United Nations attaches to family issues worldwide. For the Mômji community, this is an opportunity to spend time with loved ones.
An unusual context
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of family solidarity. Indeed, whether it is the young generations who protect their elders or parents who teach their children at home, intergenerational solidarity within families has made it possible to overcome the crisis. Hence the importance, in the upcoming years, of investing in social policies protecting the most vulnerable individuals and families.
But in a context like this one, this international day is also an opportunity to remember that certain families are living in a difficult or even dramatic situation: poverty, disability or even domestic violence. International Family Day also means doing your best for those who need it, through dedicated actions and programs set up by major international institutions.
While the world is still struggling with the virus, this crisis can be seen as an opportunity, on a global scale, to rethink (or strengthen) the functioning of our societies and act for gender equality, because this involves more equality within the families themselves. This is, moreover, the goal of the Beijing Platform for Action, launched in 1995, focusing notably on the empowerment of women and adopted by 189 countries.
French context
Figures cannot lie: for the past twenty years, marriages and births have been steadily increasing. With 778,900 births in 2000 and 774,800 in 2001 (source: INSEE), the French birth rate remains at a high level.
You who are reading this article are probably members of one of these many families. Whether with your children, your parents and your grandparents, take advantage of this day of May 15 to:
- take news of your loved ones, find out if they are going well,
- take the opportunity to do a family activity: bike ride, ideas of activities with children, games in the garden if you are lucky enough to own one.
- And why not a good family film? After all, many of them marked our childhood.
- Do you want to sing with your children? At Mômji, we encourage parents to sing in English with their kids, thanks to our list of songs in English.
And as a bonus, we offer this video with family quotes!
