PJ Day: The past, the present and the future

I find it really hard to imagine that Early Childhood Ireland’s National Pyjama Day is in its 18^th year! Where did all those years go? It started on an ordinary day at the then National Children’s Nurseries Association office in Bluebell when we were chatting about the RTE People in Need Telethon and wondering if we could be part of it. My colleague Rita Melia said – let’s do a Pyjama Day! We emailed all our members encouraging them to participate by having children and staff wear their PJ’s to crèche or preschool and be sponsored by their families to do so. The response was wonderful and so, Pyjama Day came to be.

At the time the RTE People in Need Telethon was held every second year, but we enjoyed Pyjama Day so much we held it every year, with proceeds going to the Make a Wish Foundation on the years that the Telethon wasn’t held.

Over the years the growth of National Pyjama Day has been amazing. I don’t recall how many settings took part in those early days, but in 2019, the last year National Pyjama Day was held and over 65,000 children at 1,300 settings around Ireland participated! More than €3.5 MILLION has been raised for a variety of children’s charities!

When Pyjama Day started, my daughter was fascinated by it. In those early years, the members of the Advisory Team visited member settings that were taking part, to take photos and generally join in the fun. She was 7 or 8 years old when it all started and loved seeing me heading off on PJ Day morning wearing my PJs to work. My children were amused (and embarrassed) that I would drive around in Pyjamas and even go shopping sometimes before coming home! On a few occasions, I even attended Cork Early Years Network meetings in PJs and sometimes was not alone in that, as some Managers arrived at the network meeting straight from their settings.

Some years, if school schedules permitted, my daughter and later my nieces came with me to visit some settings. They loved that. Their pyjamas were carefully chosen and mine were vetted too to ensure I was not too mortifying! As the years progressed and mobile phones became more common, my ‘support crew’ would text various local radio stations as we drove along, to wish the settings taking part in PJ Day a great day. The excitement was intense one year when a station read out the request!

But all this fun has a serious side. Over these years the administrative and governance aspect is fine-tuned every year, to ensure that good governance is practised at all stages. In recent years the Community Foundation has partnered with us to ensure that selected beneficiaries have clear plans and strategies to guarantee that the generous donations support children and families across a range of charities. For National Pyjama Day 2021 the three charities as voted on by members of Early Childhood Ireland are:

• Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation,
• Children in Hospital Ireland,
• AsIAm

To date, these are the charities that have been beneficiaries of National Pyjama Day.

• AsIAm
• Chime
• Children in Hospital Ireland
• DeafHear.ie
• Disability Equality Specialist Support Agency (DESSA)
• Down Syndrome Ireland
• Irish Hospice Foundation
• Irish Neonatal Health Alliance
• Make A Wish Foundation
• National Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation
• Respond Housing Association
• ReCreate Ireland
• Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland
• Temple Street Children’s University Hospital

Many of these charities have developed projects that support families and/ or educators to develop more inclusive practices, benefitting all children now but also children in the future. This cascading impact of Pyjama Day funding is really important. For example, many of our members have enjoyed and seen benefits from the ‘Teach me as I am’ programme developed by AsIAm.

Very soon we will be opening registration for National Pyjama Day 2021. Watch out on our social media channels where we will launch the date, get your registration in early to receive your pack. And let us make National Pyjama Day 2021, taking place on Friday 19 November 2021 the BEST EVER!