We will remember them

My husband has taken our son to his first dawn service this morning.
It can be hard to communicate with our children about war. We don't want to glorify fighting in any form but we do want to instill the utmost respect for those who gave their lives so that we may live the way we do today.
For now we've told our children that war is not nice, people get killed and injured and it's not something you ever want to happen. But sometimes there are very big disagreements between countries and when some countries threatened to come and attack Australians some very brave people stood up and protected everyone. We've focused in on Anzac Day for our kids as a day of thanks for the men and women who helped make our country what it is today — a free and happy place.
We'll leave the heavy talk of reasons for and against and current wars for when they are older.
Of course in a perfect world there would be no wars but no matter your views on the subject one can't turn their back and ignore those who have stood side-by-side in a muddy trench (the youngest of them just 14) and protected our country from invasion. Australia could have and would have been a very different country and a lot of us indeed would not even be here but for the 400 000+ men (a lot of them still boys) who volunteered to go to War in 1914 and those who followed in subsequent wars.
To each and every one of Australia's service men and women I owe my children's freedom and the peaceful lifestyle we enjoy today (and so much more). From the bottom of my heart — we will never forget what you have done and do for us, thank you.