Foreign Policy Blogs

You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again. -Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing.  What!  Is it nothing to be happy?  Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long?  Never in his life will he be so busy again.  -Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

Forget not the sheer joy of being a kid, remember how to play and laugh over nothing at all. For childhood fades all to soon, and for some it barely makes an appearance. Millions of children around the world are forced to work, enslaved, beaten and abused, cry themselves to sleep at night from hunger, and yet childhood remains something we all take for granted.

The right to play is the right of a child most taken for granted, and we must work to see that all children around the world, are able to play freely. Encourage children to use their imaginations and play, to run and jump, to build castles in the sand and forts in the backyard. Life is an adventure, and for a child the journey should be memorable.

You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing.  What!  Is it nothing to be happy?  Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long?  Never in his life will he be so busy again.  -Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

 

Author

Cassandra Clifford

Cassandra Clifford is the Founder and Executive Director of Bridge to Freedom Foundation, which works to enhance and improve the services and opportunities available to survivors of modern slavery. She holds an M.A., International Relations from Dublin City University in Ireland, as well as a B.A., Marketing and A.S., Fashion Merchandise/Marketing from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Cassandra has previously worked in both the corporate and charity sector for various industries and causes, including; Child Trafficking, Learning Disabilities, Publishing, Marketing, Public Relations and Fashion. Currently Cassandra is conducting independent research on the use of rape as a weapon of war, as well as America’s Pimp Culture and its Impact on Modern Slavery. In addition to her many purists Cassandra is also working to develop a series of children’s books.

Cassandra currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metro area, where she also writes for the Examiner, as the DC Human Rights Examiner, and serves as an active leadership member of DC Stop Modern Slavery.


Areas of Focus:
Children's Rights; Human Rights; Conflict