The words “We are family” may have you reaching for your Lycra and hitting the dance floor, but the famous Sister Sledge song title has also taken on a whole new meaning this month as it’s the motto of this year’s International Family Equality Day (IFED) which is celebrated on 5th May.
Thirty-six countries will celebrate the day, from Australia to Venezuela, as an official LGBT awareness day, with more countries joining in each year. The aim of the day is to celebrate equality and the diversity of families around the globe, and anyone can join regardless of sexuality.
IFED was first celebrated in 2012 and is set as the first Sunday in May. The Council of Europe has recognised the IFED as an important tool “to combat homophobia and transphobia and to promote a tolerant and cohesive society”. It also falls within three of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, mainly:
- Goal 3 – Good health and well-being
- Goal 5 – Gender equality
- Goal 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions
In 2015 the Council of Europe Congress adopted a resolution entitled “Guaranteeing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people’s rights: a responsibility for Europe’s towns and regions”. The resolution invites local and regional authorities to commit to diversity policies inclusive of LGBT rights, and to work closely with LGBT advocacy organisations and human rights NGOs, to promote good practice through local networks such as the Rainbow Cities Network project.
The official IFED website is at: https://internationalfamilyequalityday.org/ and you can find more information there on how to celebrate the day and register any events that you organise.
Early Years And International Family Equality Day
In early years, talking about human sexuality needs to be done in an age-appropriate way, and LGBTQ+ rights may not be easily understood by pre-schoolers due to their age. However, acceptance and tolerance of all people as individuals is definitely something that can be easily promoted, and a celebration of the many different family structures that exist in our society and around the world, can be a great foundation for future learning on this subject as children get older.
There are also a lot of age-appropriate books and videos that you can use which are suitable for children and toddlers to help you with this subject.
How To Mark The Day In Your Setting
IFED is a day to celebrate everything about families, be they big, small, two-parent, single-parent, grandparent, foster, adopted, LGBTQ or not! It’s about celebrating the people we call family regardless of sexuality, gender, socio-economic group and blood relation. The diversity of families in our world is now so wide and varied that it is difficult to put together a credible notion of an ‘average’ family anymore. Indeed, as the world turns towards a better understanding of our interconnectedness and interdependence, you could take the motto of “We are family” to mean a more global family altogether, emphasising the need to recognise humanity as one big family.
However you interpret the day, here are some ideas for celebrating it.
Organise A Family Celebration Event
You can organise an event and invite your parents and carers in to celebrate with you. Make it as wide as possible so invite extended families, grandparents and friends too.
Why not ask people to bring in something that is unique to them, such as a musical instrument, an item they use for work (spanner, stethoscope, hairbrush etc.,) and run a competition to see if people can match the items to different families?
Include some arts and crafts stalls such as a handprint station, where all members of the family can leave a handprint and/or write their name. You could do the same with a computer and get people to create an avatar for free online and then download and print their pictures.
People usually like a bake sale, so invite people to contribute an item that they love or that shows something unique about them or where they are from. You can also make your own rainbow cupcakes and get the children to decorate them with rainbow-coloured sprinkles or smarties.
Other Arts And Crafts Ideas Include:
- Create a rainbow wall mural and ask children/parents/carers to bring in a photo of themselves with their family to stick to the display
- Use rainbow coloured lolly sticks to create simple stick people and put them into a base of sand or soil. You can help the children to make different people in their family and group them together or arrange them into one big circle to represent the global human family
- Write the names of each family member on a piece of card and use different coloured ribbons to tie them onto different coloured coat-hangers to hang around the setting
- Use some branches collected from outside and tie them together to create a ‘family tree’. You can create small individual ones or one large ‘human family tree’ and tie names, photos or suitable items to the tree to represent different family members
Use Storytime To Celebrate Diversity And Equality
Read the children stories that incorporate many different types of families. You can find an up-to-date list of books that celebrate LGBT+ families at https://www.booktrust.org.uk/booklists/l/lgbt-picture-books/ including “My Daddies”, “My Mums Love Me” and “Everywhere babies” for even the smallest eyes and ears!
Review Your Policies And Practice
IFED is also a time to reflect on your own diversity and inclusion policies and to ensure that you are doing all you can to promote tolerance, diversity and tackle prejudice in the workplace and in society at large. Look at your own marketing and promotional materials to see if they truly reflect the families and communities you serve and review your policies to ensure that they are indicative of your practice.
Spread The Word Of International Family Equality Day
The IFED website are looking for pictures of families and ‘families in action’ to use throughout their website and their annual report. Information on how to upload any photos and videos is available on their website and they also encourage everyone to share events, ideas and photos on social media networks using the hashtag: #IFED2024.
Whatever you do, remember that we at Parenta love to hear about what you’ve been doing too, so send us your stories and pictures to hello@parenta.com.
