The Good Child’s Duties: Childhood in Militarized Thailand

The Thai national children’s day (wan dek), the local version of the International Day for Protection of Children, is celebrated in Thailand on the second week of January. For the occasion, various government offices, including major military installations, are open to children and their families. During the day soldiers proudly showed astonished and exalted children the best pieces of the Thai Army’s military arsenal: helicopters, battle tanks, war weapons of various kinds. Similar to their everyday lessons at school, children were almost obsessively taught that to be a “good child” (dek di) is to be authentically Thai – that is to honor the monarchy, Buddhism, and the nation. This paper explores historically and ethnographically the political meanings of childhood in Thailand through the analysis of the Thai national children's day tradition.