April Month of the Military Child

April is Month of the Military Child, which recognizes the nation’s 1.8 million military children for their heroism, character, courage, sacrifices and resilience in the face of unique challenges — deployments that take parents away for months at a time; frequent moves that involve changing schools and leaving friends behind; and parents returning home with combat-related injuries. If you’re a service member with children, here’s a strong list of resources to help you help them cope with whatever military life might bring their way:

• Healthy Coping Skills for Families
  For families experiencing first-time deployment or multiple deployments, this blog post offers tips to help children and parents cope.

• Prepare Your Family for the Holidays Apart
  Even though separation from a loved one may be heightened during the holidays, the advice in this blog post is helpful for military families separated at any time throughout the year.

• Frontline Psych with Doc Bender: Tips for Helping Children Reconnect Post-deployment
  Children respond differently to a parent’s deployment depending on their age and maturity level. Clinical psychologist Dr. James Bender shares age-appropriate advice for parents to make reconnecting with children easier.

• Coping Tips for Families Faced with Summertime Moves
  During summer, many military families relocate to new duty stations. Good planning and proper preparation makes moving and settling into your new location less stressful for the entire family.

• Military Kid Tackles PTSD for School Project
  Hannah Rauhut, a young military teen, focused her school assignment on educating her peers about posttraumatic stress disorder. “Being a military kid, I feel a strong connection to this issue — every time a soldier deploys, even my dad, they’re at risk for PTSD.”

• Transition Tips for Military Kids by Military Kids
  Military children share their own tips for dealing with some of the common aspects of growing up in a military family.

• Sesame Workshop Offers 10 Ways for Military Kids to “Let it Out”
  Sesame Workshop helps military children express their feelings about deployed parents, multiple moves, holidays without loved ones and a whole host of unique emotional issues military families face.

• Military Kids Website Adds New Features to Help Parents and Educators
  MilitaryKidsConnect.org offers videos, message boards, personal stories, games and more to help kids learn how to cope with the realities of military life in a positive and engaging environment. There’s information and resources for parents and educators, too.

Additional Resources

• The Real Warriors Campaign website offers helpful resources for military families, including two new articles, “Coordinating Child Care” and “Creating a Family Care Plan.” Visit the Families section for more articles on helping children cope with challenges associated with deployments and reunions and adjusting to changes throughout the deployment cycle. Share tips and advice on the family message board or send an appreciative ecard to a military child in your life.

• Whether you’re a parent looking for information on child care or child development, or a pre-teen or teen looking for tips on saving money or ways to get involved in your community, the Children, Youth & Teens section of the Military OneSource website offers resources, tools and articles for the entire family.

• Visit the Family & Caregiver Support section of the National Resource Directory website to learn about programs that support military families and information on how to access emotional, financial and community assistance.

We want to hear from you! Share resources or tips that have helped your military family throughout the years in the comments section.