Parenting Tip of the Week - Helping Children Struggling with a Pending Deployment
Source: Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP) Weekly eNewsletter
Despite your best efforts, children of all ages may struggle with the pending deployment of the service member parent. Occasionally, this struggle can result in behavioral problems. Young children may begin to act out or regress, even before the service member parent actually leaves.
- Give your child unstructured time. Instead of keeping your child busy with nonstop scheduled activities, allow them some personal space where they can process their feelings.
- Engage your child in play. Playing together - such as games of tag or hand-and-seek - can offer a valuable time to relax and share a laugh. Little ones love to play "pretend," pre-teens love board games, and teens might just appreciate the quality time of a dinner out.
- Give your children a feeling of control over some things in their life. For example, give them choices over what to wear or what to eat for breakfast.
- If your children are six to seventeen years old, there is a new Department of Defense (DoD) website created just for them: MilitaryKidsConnect. There you'll find age-appropriate resources to support children from pre-deployment, through a parent's or caregiver's return
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