I’m a firm supporter of cremation. There are two reasons, one obvious and one might not be.
1) It’s far better to not take up space and rot inside containers meant to prevent your body from returning to the general pool of resource that we all came from.
2) What better way to explain the basic concepts of chemistry and reality than to have a child be able to see the basic components of a loved family member? That might sound odd, but think about it.
When your loved one dies, you have a choice. Bury or burn. If you bury, a child might have a place to visit once in a while, but no real connection to the death or to the science behind it. If you cremate, you can have a vessel that contains the most basic components of a loved one. Explaining how humans are built from a limited number of elements, and how those elements survive or don’t survive immolation can be a very educational factor.
Too many children are fed platitudes and bullshit when a death occurs. Take the opportunity to allow your family's children to experience the remains in a non-gruesome fashion. Give them an attachment to chemistry and reality at the same time. Let them become accustomed to loss by not actually losing all of the person that died.
