• Balance trips and treats-don't overwhelm children with too much at once.
• Have realistic expectations - don't expect children to be perfect.
• Be responsible for discipline.
• Look for ways to keep deployed parent's presence in day-to-day family life.
• Have a good photograph of the deployed parent in children's bedrooms, and on the refrigerator or kitchen
bulletin board along with deployed parent's postcards and letters.
• Consider recording everyday things (dinner, game playing, bath time etc.) to send to the deployed parent.
• Have children do special jobs –track the deployed parent's favorite sports team or water the deployed
parent's favorite plant.
• Designate a certain portion of each day as Dad's hour or Mom's hour to discuss deployed parent and
brainstorm ways to keep the connection.
• Talk about deployed parent as a regular part of daily conversation.
• Remember that the way children come through deployment will largely be determined by the way parents
handle the deployment.
• Be up- front and honest with your children about your feelings. Children will earn to cope better if they can
see that it is difficult for you at times, but you're coping okay.
