If child (children) are old enough to write, suggest they keep a journal (buy them a book to write in). Then when parent comes home they can share journal with parent. That gets parent caught up on events and thoughts kids had while they were gone. Another thing you could do is tear out page and send it to parent each week.

You might have a cookout and invite other friends whose mom or dad is also deployed. You could also invite a new family that just moved into neighborhood.

If you have a major holiday, i.e., Thanksgiving, while parent is gone, turn on tape recorder during dinner so mom or dad can hear conversations. Have kids make a list of all food that you had to eat. Take lots of pictures to send. Have everyone say a special message to parent.

Have kids write a poem and send it. Have kids make a secret code, write a message in code and send both to parent. Another neat letter to send would be made of words cut from newspaper or magazines.

Take pictures of important events: new haircuts, birthdays, parties, etc. Let kids take pictures. Have them take pictures of family pets and tell a story to go along with pictures.

Always remind child that whether it is mom or dad that is at home or away....they are always a family.

About the Author: Ann Scaling Tucker is a retired grandmother of 5. She retired after 35 1/2 years with the Department of Defense. In her retirement years, she is a grandchild sitter and an assistant webmaster for family websites. You can see one of the websites at http://www.theclassicbabystore.com.

Effective at filtering–Does web filtering software strike a good balance between filtering objectionable material and non object ional - not filter too much? The ability to customize sensitivity of filtering by each individual family member is important as well.

Activity reports –Parents should be able to see what their individual family member has been doing on computer. This would include viewing where they have been on Internet, what has been going on in chat rooms, and activity based on other functions within Internet filtering application.

Foreign language filtering –One of tricks that teenagers have found to bypass Internet filters is to type in foreign language equivalent of certain keywords. By typing in French, Spanish, or German versions of word "sex" or "girl" for example, you can easily bypass many filters to view objectionable content.

Individual profiles –Can you create a profile for each family member with different filtering rules?

Notification capabilities –Can you be notified at work or at home that un-authorized access or blocking is occurring?

Negligible response times –Does Internet filter allow you to access Internet without noticeable slowdown?

Remote management –Can you change settings, change rules, and change profiles from work or while on vacation without installed software? The correct use of Internet filters in harmony with parental controls can make Internet a safe and wonderful experience for family.