Before you get busy planning your Memorial Day picnic remember to take time to teach your children the real meaning of this special day and why we celebrate it.
Memorial Day is a holiday set aside to remember soldiers who have lost their lives, although many people also take the opportunity to remember all loved ones who have passed away. The holiday began after the American Civil War. During the war, about 500,000 soldiers were killed on both sides of the battle, and women began decorating graves of these lost soldiers.
Although many cities created local holidays to memorialize the dead between 1864 and 1866, the first widespread celebration of the holiday was on May 30, 1868. A general ordered that flowers and decorations be placed at the graves of fallen soldiers. Special services and tributes were also created to honor the dead. The general asked the press to support the effort.
After World War I, many women began selling red poppies in honor of Memorial Day, to raise money for families affected by the war. The poppies were inspired by Canadian Colonel John Mcrae’s poem, “In Flanders Fields”.
Today, honoring soldiers on Memorial Day often takes the form of special ceremonies, speeches, and laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Get your kids some free coloring pages and you will have some visual aids to help as you talk about this important day. I found some you may like at the following link: http://fun4thechildren.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-day-coloring-pages.html
Look for Memorial Day Celebrations in your local paper and take your kids. Rekindle your love for our country and the pride of America. Thank God for our troops and for being privileged to have been born in the USA.