Visiting a Memorial With Children

Memorial Day was the other day and I took my daughter to a beautiful Memorial to remember the lives that were lost fighting for our country. It was a really good experience and educational time for my daughter to learn a bit about history, and to do something for someone else and be giving. Remembrance is really important to me and I want that to pass on to my daughter.

This is my favorite picture I got, I love how you can read the memorial and it's really touching and something she'll have forever.

In the days leading up to Memorial Day we talked about how we were going to go put flowers down for the people who lost their lives fighting for our country and my daughter sweetly said "can we put one flower for every person who died?" So talking about the aspect of death wasn't scary to her, and she was all for remembering the amazing heroes. I know a lot of people worry about their kids thinking about death and opt out of talking to them about this holiday, or taking them to a memorial or cemetery. I just want to say I don't think that should be a thing to be afraid of when it comes to this. I think it's the right thing to do to educate our children about this holiday.

I liked having my daughter put the flowers down and leave them because it was a way for her to connect. She also loves flowers so she enjoyed picking them out, and even wanted to pick them in patriotic colors, which I was very proud of. We asked for the flowers to be tied together with some ribbons, and she asked for a pink one to go along with the patriotic colors. I think it's important for them to put their own touch on it, it makes them more a part of the experience. We ended up separating the flowers though because there was three different memorials at the place we went to and we wanted to honor each.

 She was looking lovingly at the first memorial we came to.

Putting a flower at this one and talking about her great grandparents that fought in this war.

By the smile on her face you can tell that this was made a very positive experience which is important for young kids who are jut getting used to the big concepts that are a part of Memorial Day. I loved seeing my daughter have this sweet experience remembering our fallen soldiers. Don't be afraid to do the same with your children.