Hi Rick. I don't have any advice - I had no idea how to relate to kids even when I was one - but here's a story you may find encouraging.

In my school, every single year for Remembrance Day they had us sing "Oh God Our Help in Ages Past," "He Sees the Little Sparrow Fall", "Oh Canada," and "God Save the Queen" for music classes and the assembly.

But then the year I was in grade 8 our French teacher decided that we could do without French for a day. He brought in his guitar and taught us a bunch of anti-war songs: "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", "Study War No More," "One Tin Soldier," and (the one that really got me) "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya."

It was a revelation for me - that there was another take on Remembrance Day, and that these old songs existed to express it. As far as I can remember, it was also my first real contact with folk music. I clearly and fondly remember that class and that teacher (who has since passed away).

Marion