Memorial Day

I felt Memorial Day this year I really needed to try and educate my kids on what it is all about. It isn't about camping, BBQ's or parks although we did BBQ and go to the park later that day :) But we spent a lot of the day sight seeing and visiting places that hold a significant value to how great our country actually is. I tried to explain to them the purpose of what serving in the military is.

My son Jacob wants to be in the military when he grows up. I asked him "Why" on our trip yesterday and his response was this "Because I want to learn to shoot better." I told him from there that you could go to a shooting range and learn shoot better there versus putting your life on the line in the military and that it wasn't a reason to join the military. I told him to think about it some more as to why he wants to join the military and that I would ask him later again the same question. As we went on our journey I did my best to explain to him why "I think" people join the military. I explained the purpose of having a navy, the marines, coast guard... etc.

When we were done on our adventure I asked him again why he wanted to join the military and he said "Because he wants to keep us safe." MUCH better answer and reason (in my opinion) to join the military and felt like the kids learned something and had fun in the process.

Never take for granted the freedom we have because behind that are many lives that have been lost so we can have it. I know it's easy to forget how great a country we actually are but I just encourage those to get involved in our country (stay informed on politics, laws, etc), to thank those that have served in any way for our country and to educate those little ones on what our military is for.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!