With rainbow streamers taped to paper plates and decorated with happy faces drawn in marker, the kids made their way through the day care and preschool center.

"I am special, I am special. God made me, God made me," they sang, waving their colorful treasures and shaking their homemade corn-filled noisemakers. Some joined hands as they marched their way past each other, smiling and giggling.

The I Am Special Parade was the closing ceremony for the center's Week of the Young Child festivities. Excited about the mid-morning occasion, my 4-year-old daughter, who loves to dress up, insisted on wearing her "fancy" clothes for the highly anticipated procession.

Celebrations like this build them up.

When I was a child, I would ask my mom why there was Mother's Day and Father's Day, but there wasn't a Children's Day.

To that she would always reply, "Every day is Children's Day."

That didn't seem like the case then, but looking back now, I realize that life is pretty great when you're a kid. But there also is no harm in showing children just how special they are. That message needs to be heard loud and often but sometimes gets lost in the pace of the day.

That's why events like this mean so much to kids. They get a reminder of how unique and special they are. And they get to put it on parade.