WHEN A PARENT IS DEPLOYED by Ann Scaling TuckerWhen a parent is deployed with
military it can be very traumatic for
children left behind. Having things for them to do, that makes them feel a part of
family and helping
parent who is gone, is really important.
Here is a list of things you can plan that should help ease
pain of having mom or dad gone.
We all have happy and sad feelings about our parent leaving. It is important that we talk about them with our families. Have
child (children) make two lists. One with YOUR HAPPY FEELINGS and one with YOUR SAD FEELINGS. Sit down and discuss these lists and explain
feelings that they don't understand or answer questions.
Get a map and place it on
wall and show
kids where mom or dad has gone. They can stick a pin in it or place a small flag on
map. They might get a sheet of stickers and put them where
parent is, where they are, where
grandparents are, etc.
Get
kids a tablet with lined paper and show them how to write letters to
parent. Here they can also use stickers and draw pictures.
Make a list of things that kids can do to cheer
family up like: do some chores, write letters, sing a song they wrote, tell their best joke and add your ideas to
list.
You might want to take a calendar and mark special days and holidays that will be happening while
parent is gone.