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.