Friday, October 18, 2013

Taking the Fear out of Cemeteries

Add caption
With Halloween coming up I thought this is a good time to discuss cemeteries and taking the fear out of them. Find the cemetery nearest you and use this as a learning opportunity. Maybe you'd like to stop by and pay your respects to a loved one.

As a kid you may have participated in the "old  wives' tale" to hold your breath around a cemetery for fear that inhaling would bring on an early death. Cemetery lore is still in use in our language today such as the expression of having the "graveyard shift" at work or claiming to be "dead tired."  Still in use today, these activities and sayings highlight interesting cultural values that can best be explored by visits to their origins: the cemetery.

While death is a "heady" subject, children are generally more comfortable with it since they do not fully understand it as we adults do.  Taking a trip to the cemetery can dispel some of a cemetery's mysteries, erase misconceptions about this human cultural activity and teach religious and secular values associated with burial practices.

Be prepared for some interesting questions about the physical process of a body's decomposition, factual discussions about some of the better documented cultural burial practices from around the world and introducing the cemetery as an outdoor art museum with its stone etchings, poetic epithets and stone marker designs.

There are many cemeteries in the area including ones associated with local churches. You might consider Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in North Texas and is rich in history. Heroes from several wars such as the Texas Revolution, the Mexican War, the war for Southern Independence and every war after are buried here.  This outing could include a history lesson as well.

Here's a few things young children can learn at a cemetery.

2 & 3 Year Olds:
*Identify numbers and letters etched in the stone markers.
*Introduce cemetery etiquette - speak softly, no running, do not sit on markers etc.

4 & 5 Year Olds:
*Talk about why the stone markers are there and what is their purpose.
*Make a rubbing of several stone markers using paper and peeled crayons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 "Kidding Around Town" is the ultimate outing guide for you and your kids to explore the DFW Metroplex. 

With a comprehensive listing of destinations, Catherine Cates provides detailed outlines on how to create educational and fun experiences for kids of every age AND their parents!  Also included are featured destinations in each category that go into specifics related to that particular destination. 

"Kidding Around Town"  will help you create wonderfully well-rounded memories for your kids, and develop a springboard for noticing the lifetime learning that surrounds them if they have been taught to look for it!