What Should Children Know About The Fourth of July?
Dr. Wendy Ghiora - Posting #110 - June 28, 2012
I admit it; I’m just a wide-eyed kid again each Fourth of July.  Listening to the oohs and aahs as we watch magnificent fireworks displays brings us all together for a very special day.  Millions of Americans across this great nation, in little towns, farm towns and big cities, all celebrate Independence Day.  Many towns will hold a parade, replete with boyscout troops holding up their hand-made banners and the town’s dancers doing cartwheels, as I proudly wave my American flag from the sidewalk. Celebration is a given. After all, it is the birthday of our freedom.

So what should our children know about this day?

1. The Founders Got It Right!Children should know that one of the most important sentences in our American history comes from the Declaration of Independence, and that it was ratified on July 4th, 1776. I would hope that they learn about it in school, but since they are not in school during the summer, it’s worth a reminder at home. That sentence being: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” As a kid and even as an adult, I am always amazed that the Founders were able to get it so right, so long ago. That’s an important thing for a kid to consider.

2. These Are The Best DaysChildren should know that being a kid, in the summer, on July 4th and watching fireworks is about the best it will ever get. The freedoms they enjoy like being able to give their opinions in public without fear, and on a lighter note,  of having no school on these long, warm summer days, the picnics we enjoy outside on a patch of green grass beneath deep blue skies, the amazing colorful light-show overhead when it finally, finally gets dark… these are the best of days.

3. They Are BlessedChildren should know they live in the greatest country in the world, in the history of the planet, and that they should feel very, very thankful for that. It’s like winning the birth lottery. It would be very different for them had they been born elsewhere. It is their good fortune that some of their ancestors chose to come here and make this their home. They need to know how lucky they are and to be truly thankful that they are American.

My God!  How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! 
~Thomas Jefferson