Overview
Books for children about deployment
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Books for children about deployment
For ages 3 to 8
Daddy, You're My Hero and Mommy, You're My Hero, by Michelle Ferguson-Cohen (Little Redhaired Girl Publishing, 2005).
These board books address deployment from a child's viewpoint in a comforting, reassuring way. Recommended by the Military Child Education Coalition, DoD Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools, Iraq War Veterans Organization, USAA, and the American Press Institute.
Night Catch, by Brenda Ehrmentraut, illustrated by Vicki Wehrman (2005).
A soldier deployed overseas enlists the help of the North Star for a nightly game of catch with his young son.
When Dad's at Sea, by Mindy Pelton, illustrated by Robert Steele (2008).
Emily has to deal with a 6-month separation from her father, a deployed Navy Pilot. To cope, she tears off a piece of a paper chain every day that he's gone, follows his journey on a map, and sends him e-mail messages. With reassuring text and gentle watercolor illustrations.
While You Are Away, by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Renee Graef (Hyperion, 2004).
Told in the voices of three children whose parents are deployed: a boy whose father is on a ship at sea, a girl whose mother is a pilot, and a boy whose father drives a jeep. Each child talks about what it's like to miss a parent, and the book ends with the day the parents return home. Gentle and reassuring, with colorful illustrations.
For ages 6 to 12
Deployment Journal for Kids, by Rachel Robertson (Elva Resa Publishing, 2005).
Created especially for military children, this journal provides a place to record feelings and events during a loved one's deployment. It also contains calendar pages, writing ideas, interesting facts about common deployment locations, military definitions, and a pocket in which to keep mementos.
Love, Lizzie: Letters to a Military Mom, by Lisa Tucker McElroy (Albert Whiteman and Company, 2005).
A story written in the form of letters from 9-year-old Lizzie to her mother, a soldier deployed overseas. With suggestions for parents about helping children during the separation.
The Soldier's Tree, by Stephanie L. Pickup (TAO Publishing, 2004).
Designed to help military children enjoy the Christmas holidays while they're separated from a loved one. The author, an Army wife, wrote this book after experiencing two deployments through the holidays with young children.
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DVDs for children and teenagers about deployment
For ages 2 to 5
Talk, Listen, Connect: Deployments, Homecomings, Changes
A 2-DVD set from Sesame Street, using the Muppets to help young children deal with the issues of deployment. (Available free to military families through www.militaryonesource.com).
Military Youth Coping with Separation: When Family Members Deploy
A DVD developed by military pediatricians and adolescent-medicine specialists, to help teenagers understand that they're not alone as they experience family separation. Featuring candid interviews with military youths describing their own experiences. (Available free to military families through www.militaryonesource.com).
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Web resources for children about deployment
Deploymentkids.com
www.deploymentkids.com
A site sponsored by Elva Resa Publishers, publishers of My Deployment Journal. Offers free downloadable activities, including a time-zone chart, distance calculator, and spotlights on different areas of the world where a parent might be deployed.
National Guard Youth Online Community
www.guardfamilyyouth.org
Information and downloadable activities about dealing with the deployment of a Guard parent, intended for children in several age groups. Links to a sub-site for teenagers, the National Guard Family Youth Project, which provides information about handling a deployment in the family when you're a teenager.
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Other resources
Your military support services
Each service branch sponsors information and support programs for service members and their families. You can call or visit any installation Army Community Service Center, Marine Corps Community Services, Fleet and Family Support Center, or Airman and Family Readiness Center regardless of your branch affiliation.
If you aren't near an installation, National Guard Family Assistance Centers are available in every state. The Local Community Resource Finder on the National Guard Family Program at www.guardfamily.orgwill identify your closest center.
Military OneSource
This free 24-hour service is available to all active duty, Guard, and Reserve members (regardless of activation status) and their families. Consultants provide information and make referrals on a wide range of issues. Free face-to-face counseling sessions (and their equivalent by phone or online) are also available. Call 1-800-342-9647 or go to www.MilitaryOneSource.comto learn more.
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