Remembrance Day with kids
Before we move into the Christmas season, we’ll take some time to recognize and honour the courage of our veterans.
Talking to kids about Remembrance Day
We canvassed our readers a few years ago about how they talk to their kids about war, remembering, and death, and their good advice is worth reviewing.
Attend a ceremony
Witnessing a ceremony at one of our many monuments to our veterans around the city helps children put actual people to the stories they hear at school, and the discussions you’ve had at home. Here are a few around Metro Vancouver:
Victory Square
The program begins with a performance by the Vancouver Bach Youth Choir and Sarabande starting at 9:45 am. At 10:00 am veterans, military marching units and bands will be led to Victory Square by the Vancouver Flag Party. The cenotaph ceremony starts at 10:30 am. At 11:00 am the Last Post will be sounded. There will be two minutes of silence, during which a 21-gun salute by the 15th Field Artillery Regiment will be heard from Portside Park. Rouse and Lament will follow. The RCAF will conduct a fly-past moments later, weather permitting. The enduring In Flanders Fields will then be sung by the Bach Youth Choir and Sarabande and wreaths will be placed at the Cenotaph. A feature will be a combined performance by the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service and the Regimental Pipes and Drums of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada.
Additional ceremonies will be taking part at Grandview Park, Japanese Canadian War Memorial in Stanley Park, and the Chinatown Memorial at Keefer & Columbia Streets.
See our big list of Remembrance Day Ceremonies around Metro Vancouver
Finally, Alexis Hinde wrote a moving piece about attending the ceremony at Victory Square several years ago that is as powerful now as it was then.
Lest we forget.
Image credit: Veronica Ivanov/Unsplash
