Honoring Yesterday’s and Today’s Soldiers
Shaping Tomorrow’s Heroes
As a mother of two boys I am compelled to instill in them the love, respect and admiration for the men and women who serve this great country of ours. My older son is three and I believe he is old enough to start learning about the real reason we commemorate Memorial Day. However, I was not quite sure how I would do this so I called on the wisdom of friends. I’d like to share these ideas with you.
WHAT IS MEMORIAL DAY? (excerpt taken from www.sandiego.com)
About Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a US Holiday observed on the last Monday of May each year. It commemorates those who died while serving our country.
How to Observe in San Diego, CA
Observe Memorial Day 2011 by visiting local cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes. Miramar National Cemetery will be open to visitors from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.Visit memorials around town such as the Veterans Museum & Memorial Center or the Mount Soledad Memorial in La Jolla. If you hang a flag outside of your home, fly it at half-staff until noon. Participate in a “National Moment of Remembrance” at 3 p.m. to pause and think upon the true meaning of the day, and for Taps to be played. Renew a pledge to aid the widows, widowers, orphans of our fallen soldiers and to aid the disabled veterans.
Here are other great suggestions from friends
Though some of these apply specifically to my home town San Diego, many city and towns have similar activities you can participate in.
Real meaning of Memorial Day
“Make them [children] watch a YouTube video by Lee Greenwood :)” ~Ann Turiano
“Take him to Point Loma. Let him see the flags on the tombstones.” ~Lisa Jane
“Also be kind to a solider … Give a gift card – show appreciation while the battle is still alive.” ~Lisa Jane
“Introduce them to someone serving. Take them to the cemetery in Point Loma.I’ve been doing that for a while. Especially since I come from a military family. It’s nice to start while they’re young”~Marites Hilton Rooks
“Coronado may also be having a parade :-)” ~Jennette Duarte
” I would probably just explain the importance of what they [soldiers] do for our country and that we wouldn’t be a free country or have our freedom if it wasn’t for them.” ~Anonymous
“You can visit with and bring treats to recovering soldiers at a VA hospital.” ~Julia Dyer
“See this movie…HBO Films’ “Taking Chance” starring Kevin Bacon.” ~Irving McBaily
“Attend a Memorial Day parade. They usually end up at a cemetery or a war memorial and have a service to honor the veterans.” ~Donna Hamley
“I found reading books about Memorial Day (and other patriotic holidays) and letting my children create their own parades at home was the best for instilling patriotism when they were young. Here’s a post I wrote about it: Child-Led Patriotism.If you have a parade or other child-friendly community event,that would be wonderful as well. I also think it would be great to make a craft like this Memorial Day Poppy Craft from Kiboomu.” ~Deb
“I’m blogging for the next three days about the meaning of this holiday, starting with a few ideas about teaching kids about this holiday which we have found is also about digging a little deeper ourselves to remember.”~Mary
“I have a couple of posts about this: Memorial Day Picture Books and 6 Memorial Day Activities for Young Kids. We’re a military family. DH is National Guard now but he was active duty and was deployed to Iraq when our first was born. So, for us, this is very much a part of who we are.” ~Candace
“We adopt troops through www.operastionshoebox.com.
The kids enjoy thinking of ideas, getting the contents together, and drawing pictures to put into care packages.I try to help them understand how important our troops are to us and to the rest of the country, and the world for that matter.” ~Brandy
OTHER GREAT LINKS:
Teaching Children about Memorial Day
To ALL our men and women who have served or are serving our country THANK YOU FOR MY FREEDOM! God bless you and your loved ones who also pay the sacrifice.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” ~John 15:13
To ALL the mommies taking action by instilling Patriotism in your children I salute you for shaping and training up your children because when you teach them to honor yesterday’s and todays Soldiers, you are shaping tomorrow’s Leaders and Heroes! God Bless you!
“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” ~Proverbs 22:6
A TRIBUTE TO OUR SOLDIERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZZf619DIpo&feature=related
Related articles
- Memorial Day – Remembering Our Fallen Heroes (socyberty.com)
- Memorial Day Greetings from my brother Ted (and me) (crackerboy.us)
- In Honor of Fallen Patriots (papundits.wordpress.com)
Training Up My Boys 
Taking Chance is a WONDERFUL movie. Thank you for taking time to teach your children about what this day means!
Nancy
http://www.workingmomadventures.com
What a beautiful post for Memorial Day! Thanks for all the wonderful links – and thanks for linking to my post! I linked to your post in the Living Montessori Now Blog Frog Community and at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow.
Deb, thanks for all your insight and material that you provide. I get so inspired and motivated to participate in activites with my son everytime I read one of your posts or articles. Bless your heart.