Military Child Strengths

PTSD. The Army is currently launching new programs designed for children to help them understand what the parent is going through and how PTSD works. Children also face stress from this situation and had nowhere to turn until now. The stress between the parent and child can greatly be reduced now due to multiple programs available for the child, spouse, or a group program.

Military children are in a league of their own, and at very young ages are thrown into situations of great stress. Approximately 1.2 million children live in the U.S. Military families (Kelly. 2003) and at least 700,000 of them have had at least one parent deployed (Johnson et al. 2007). Every child handles a deployment differently, some may regress in potty training, and others may become extremely aggressive. Many different things can happen, in most cases when a parent deploys and the child becomes difficult to handle, it can cause a massive amount of stress on the parent that is not deployed as well as added stress on the parent who is deployed. There are three stages of a deployment, pre-deployment, deployment, and reintegration,

In the United States, there are over 2 million dependent children of active duty military personnel. That counts for 43 % of military dependents (Davis, 2009). Since September 11, 2001, the War on Terror has deployed military personnel to Afghanistan and Iraq in amassment proportions. The effects of these deployments not only have taken an emotional toll on the servicemen, but their families as well. During these long periods of separation, the children in these families often display symptoms of psychological effects.

Military families move an average of every two to three years, which means approximately 500,000 military children change schools every year. ( website 4). Some changes in moving to different duty stations for children are; a change in housing, friends, schedules and routines, teachers and schools, and activities. That is a lot of change these children have to go through every two to three years. All of this change is caused to have mental health problems compared to children who don’t ever have to move(website 4). Moving around can cause children to have depression and anxiety. Military children can feel anxiety over new schools and whether they'll make friends, in addition to their grief at being separated from old friends.(website 5). The

Military children, the most affected by the deployment, get fearful about their military father’s deployment, and will eventually rebel in his absence, thus adding more stress to the non-deployed mother. However, the experience will help them forge stronger bond with their mother and gain maturity and flexibility in their daily lives.

My preconceived thoughts regarding military families and children were that deployed parents had a difficult time re-engaging, which increases the likelihood of arguments and disagreements, primarily about their partners’ military career and issues related to the children. The literature states that this is very accurate (Fraser, 2011; Hall, 2008; Williamson, 2012), and I actually experienced this hands-on during my second year field placement. To keep it short, the veteran stated that he’s had three divorces because of accused domestic violence allegations and he also does not have the best relationships with his children. This implication reaffirmed my preconception about veterans that much more, but I had to take a step back and understand

Reading Solider Girls opened my eyes to the struggles that many women, especially those that are mothers, face while serving in the military. Reading the story of Desma, who experienced two deployments as a single mother to three children, one of whom ended up in jail, made me question the impacts of deployment on families and more specifically, children. Since the War on Terror is relatively recent, beginning in 2001 after the September 11th attacks on New York City, there has not been a significant amount of research done on the children who have grown up with parents being deployed. Using the research that has been done however, this paper seeks to explore the impacts of deployment on families, especially children.

the family, which came with new responsibilities, especially when the deployed individual returned. Oftentimes, school personnel were not equipped for the special challenges that military families face. The authors suggest parents prepare for the return of the deployed parent to bring stress and that school professionals receive more guidance and professional development in this area to better prepare themselves to meet these challenges. Some limitations of the study were that of the parents and personnel who participated the majority (71% and 61%) were female, so it underrepresents the male perspective. This study focuses on the issues adolescents and families face, and brings the perspective of older children to my literature review (many

Since 9/11, military families have experienced the longest and most frequent deployments which have created strains on the family members of those serving (Paris, DeVoe, Ross, & Acker, 2010). While many service members and families have shown remarkable resilience in coping with the demands of these ongoing conflicts, very young children (ages 5 and younger) in military families may be particularly vulnerable (Paris,

Being a military brat is a culture in itself- a bizarre, complicated culture- but it is one. Growing up, I did not exactly have stability, but I always had stories to tell. My mother is an active duty air force doctor and one of the main requirements is being prepared to move your family every two to three years. The frequent moves that peppered my childhood truly shaped my personality- I adopted the traits that a child needs to survive that kind of lifestyle. I learned to be incredibly adaptable and flexible, as well as open to diverse cultures and ways of life that I encountered both while in other countries, and while on base, interacting with children with the same military background but also totally different experiences to mine. Of course,

Furthermore, being in the military has many impacts in ones life. Onetime, my friend, Luis, would never have any respect for his mother. He

The military impacts the lives of the women in combat and it affects the lives of their families. Families face a number of challenges before, during, and after deployment. When military women are deployed it causes difficulties within the family, and even more so if she is a single mother. Children of servicewomen have different reactions when their mother is deployed. Some children tend to have behavior changes or increases in irritability. The reaction of children with a military mother depends on their age, and any mental health problems the child might have. Children that go through a mother’s deployment may experience the same effects as children of parents who are getting a divorce. Children also have to manage living with a parent who returns with changes from being in combat.

Today, around the world, hundreds of thousands of children are currently serving as soldiers in many armed conflicts. Over the last ten years, two million children have been killed in conflict. Over one million have been orphaned, over six million children have been permanently disabled or injured, and over ten million have been left with psychological trauma. In life, children have been always told to do the right thing, to always influence others, but instead they are dragged into the midst of chaos, that can lead to destruction and death. Children deserve the right to a lifestyle that doesn’t involve chaos, but instead a life where children can live without fear. As a nation, we tell our children to grow up and become successful, but while we’re telling our children, there are children who are out fighting for their lives and that thought becomes nothing more but a fantasy. Growing up is every child’s dream, so why should we allow others to be deprive them of it? Children are children, not war pieces.

Har, Chiu, Langer & Wood (2007) stated that parental intrusiveness occurs when parents give help during tasks that are developmentally appropriate for children to perform independently, or when caregivers provide assistance even though children do not request it (Wood, 2006; Pomerantz, 2001). It is theorized that when children are separated from their intrusive parents, everyday tasks – tasks that their parents typically do for them – are perceived as novel, thereby eliciting anxiety due to the fact that they must now perform these “novel” tasks

Children are forced and conscripted to join a military group the majority of the time. This means that children have no choice in the matter. Children are key components to some fighting groups as they are very useful weapons. They are recruited because they can be easily manipulated and trained into unconscious obeying of orders and can be almost programmed like robots to show no compassion or conscience. This means that they become very effective weapons with