How to Teach Children About Memorial Day

Sometimes the true meaning of Memorial Day is lost because of the emphasis on the 3-day weekend, Memorial Day store sales and the excitement of having a day off from school. It's important to find ways to teach children to honor the generations before them who fought to protect their freedom. Here are a few suggestions for how to teach children the significance of Memorial Day.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Discuss the true meaning of Memorial Day, a day of national awareness and respect to honor Americans who have died while defending this country. It has also become a day for remembrance of all loved ones who have died, whether they were in the armed forces or not.
2. Participate in Memorial Day activities in your community. Teach your children how to display a flag with respect and dignity. Learn how to handle a flag when you raise and lower it.
3. Encourage your children to talk with a veteran. Take the opportunity to speak with a relative or friend who has served in the armed forces and find out what it meant to them. Organize a trip to a nursing home to honor the older veterans. Have children make thank you cards for veterans they know or get in touch with the Veteran's Administration for information on how to contact local veterans. Visit a local cemetery to place flags and flowers on the graves of veterans.
4. Teach your children the Pledge of Allegiance, patriotic songs and poems. Visit the White House Commission on Remembrance website to find out ways to join the rest of the country at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day to share a moment of remembrance together. Have your children choose their own special way to spend their moment of remembrance, such as ringing a bell, a moment of silence or a moment in prayer.