{"id":3239,"date":"2025-06-15T02:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T23:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/?p=3239"},"modified":"2025-06-15T02:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T23:22:08","slug":"a-real-childrens-world-at-mikkeli-jukola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/en\/a-real-childrens-world-at-mikkeli-jukola\/","title":{"rendered":"A Real Children’s World at Mikkeli-Jukola"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Children’s world at Jukola is full of activity and joy. Some children zoom around on tiny mopeds while others sit at tables enjoying their snacks. The youngest babies sleep peacefully in their prams. At the back of the tent, a calm and private area is tucked behind a curtain. There, parents can change diapers and tend to their babies as needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

One father is reading a book to his children while their mother is out exploring the orienteering course. He even describes the surrounding area, including a small orienteering track where children can test their skills. The course can also be completed on a hobbyhorse, and right now, children are selecting their horses to begin.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe children have been on the course all afternoon,\u201d says 13-year-old <\/span>Moona Kantelinen, <\/b>who is taking part in the Jukola relay for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside the tent, mothers who have just returned from the course stop by to rest. One of them recounts how she even had to crawl through a section of the forest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Young volunteers are in charge of leading the children\u2019s games and activities. Additional helpers support them when needed, acting as assistants or team leaders. Each volunteer shift lasts three hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the afternoon, most visitors to the tent have been dads and grandparents,\u201d says 13-year-old<\/span> Vilma Noponen,<\/b> a volunteer in the children\u2019s area. Vilma already participated last year together with her parents.<\/span><\/p>\n

The young volunteers also dream about the future\u2014as competitive orienteers themselves. Another first-timer, 11-year-old <\/span>Viivi Noponen<\/b>, is on duty along the course outdoors. She shares that it\u2019s her first time sleeping outside in a tent. The tent is about half a kilometer away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll only go to sleep once I feel tired,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

The older volunteers plan to stay awake all night, taking only brief rests in their tents.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cAfter all, this is the highlight of the whole year!\u201d one of them says with a smile.<\/span><\/p>\n

These friends share a common goal: to participate in the Jukola relay themselves in the coming years. The Noponen siblings represent Anttolan Urheilijat, while Kantelinen runs for Hyvink\u00e4\u00e4n Rasti.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the interview, the young athletes dash off to watch the ongoing Venla relay. Viivi, meanwhile, returns to watch over the hobbyhorse course.<\/p>\n

Text and photo: Sari Noponen<\/span><\/p>\n

Translation: Pirjo \u00c5lander<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Children’s world at Jukola is full of activity and joy. Some children zoom around on tiny mopeds while others…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":3108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ajankohtaista-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3240,"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239\/revisions\/3240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jukola.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}