Last weekend on August 1st marked the third year of celebrating International Childfree Day and awarding the Childfree Man and Woman of the Year. How did it start? While running my blog, La Vie Childfree (which now lives here) , learning of an organization called the National Alliance for Optional Parenthood inspired the idea.
Starting with NON
Called the National Organization for Non-Parents (NON) at the time, on August 1, 1973 it celebrated “Non-Parents Day,” and announced a Male and Female Non-Parent of the Year. The winners were Stewart Mott, a 35 year old bachelor and philanthropist and Mrs. Anna Silverman, a 25 year old teacher and co-author (with her husband Arthur) of The Case Against Having Children.
They both rode down 5th Avenue in New York in an open top cab with laurel leaf crowns, and were crowned “Non-Parent King and Queen” near the Plaza Hotel to call attention Non-Parents Day. There were other festivities, including, Joan Harriman, a mother and executive coordinator of NON at the time, who organized a “Consciousness Raising Social” at the Institute for Rational Living, with the National Non-Parents of the Year winners presiding.
To resurrect this Day, in 2013 I sought out childfree authors and bloggers to see if they wanted to be part of bringing back this day, now calling it International Childfree Day. We formed a Selection Panel to promote the submission of nominations for Childfree Man and Woman of the Year, selected winners from the submissions, and announced them on International Childfree Day.
In the last three years, have we learned about and celebrated some outstanding childfree people! Check out past winners here ~ Laura LaVoie and Mario Amaro are this year’s winners. Check them out here! And check out this interview with Laura – one with Mario to come.
Along with my long-standing mission of the acceptance of the childfree choice as part of moving toward a post-pronatal society, I remain dedicated to making International Childfree Day on August 1st happen as an annual recognition of amazing childfree people and their lives, and to continue NON’s mission of educating “the public on non-parenthood as a valid lifestyle option.”
It is never too soon to be thinking about who you might nominate for next year’s awards. As the childfree know, we are from all walks in life – all occupations and lifestyles, and there are so many out there doing great things in the world. Celebrating these lives, plain and simple, is a wonderful thing!
