Deployment Resources for Children

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deployment resources

April is the month of the military child. In honor of my babies and all of the other little boys and girls who are part of the military family I thought I would post about some of the books and tools we use to help us cope during deployment.

When we found out that Luke (Mr. Simple) was going to be deployed, I began looking for deployment resources for children to help mine understand what was going on. I was very emotional and I knew they knew I was upset, but they didn’t understand why. I wanted them to know what their dad was doing, that he still loved us, and that he was planning to come back so this situation was only temporary.

The first thing I did was check into free resources. Because my husband is a reservist, we get to attend Yellow Ribbon Events to help us handle deployment and to let us know what resources do exist for us. One of the things given to the children at the Yellow Ribbon Event was a Daddy doll.

Daddy Dolls

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So, we have the free version with the crazy hair, haha. It is cute. Baby O is particularly fond of this Daddy doll. You simply put a picture of Daddy’s face in the slot.

Another option that is not free is daddydolls.com. They will take a head-to-toe picture of your servicemember and turn it into a Daddy doll. We are planning to do this also!

Military One Source

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Military One Source is amazing in the fact that it offers so many resources for military families. Hands-down my children adore the Listen, Talk, Connect DVD. They call it Elmo’s Daddy goes away. It has really helped my children see that they aren’t the only ones going through this.

They also offer a free board book called Over There. We just ordered this one, but it is supposed to also help young children understand deployment.

I decided to also buy some books from Amazon to help my kids understand the deployment a little more.

A Paper Hug

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This book is cute. It helps a child see that what they are going through with deployment is not just something they have to go through. There are other kids going through the same thing. And when Daddy is not home, a paper hug is the next best thing to the real thing.

My Dad’s a Hero

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I loved this book and can’t read it without crying. It has a place in the front for Daddy’s picture and a place in the back for the kids’ picture because they are little heros, too. This book helps kids understand what Daddy does when he is not home.

Night Catch

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This books is so cute. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is darling. Every night a little boy and his dad blow the North star back and forth to each other just like when they played catch with a baseball. Adorable.

My Dad’s Deployment Activity Book

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We love doing the activities in this book. Now my kids are 4 and under, so some of these activities are a little advanced for them, but most are really neat. We sent Daddy a page to have all of his friends sign it, and we are learning a little bit more about where Daddy is deployed. It’s pretty cool to be able to have these ideas to help keep us busy through the deployment.

This post is part of my on-going series on Our Deplyment Journey. Other posts in this series include:

The Deployment Orders

Saying Goodbye – Part 1

How Can My Marriage Survive Deployment?

Saying Goodbye – Part 2

My Deployment Journal – Ponderings

Becoming God Strong

 

 

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