Healthy Families are the foundation of mission readiness. In general military families are no different than our civilian counterparts. Military families struggle with raising children too along with some added challenges. There are a lot of areas that the civilian parents do not have to face that our military families do. Some of the challenges include intermittent single parenting, engaging in dangerous work, and family mobility to just name a few. The DoD Healthy Parenting Initiative provides all services with military-specific parenting resources to support military families. Products that are being used include:
-Step Into Your Child's World which is a tool kit for parents of young children that takes advantage of "Teachable Moments" and provides parenting information in the context of deployment, relocation, and dangerous work, as well as general parenting information.
-Stay Connected which are resources that are designed to enhance military parent-teen relationships through activities that can be done at home, at an installation, or in the larger community. It also includes a set of short video-messages.
-Command Briefing Materials which are designed for commanders to identify linkages between healthy parenting, family readiness, and mission readiness. These materials are based on research findings and are supplemented by interviews and focus groups.