Military families can be supported through deployment, relocation, reunion, and daily challenges in many different ways. According to Cable, Coleman, and Drummett, 2003, the biggest dissatisfaction with military life is the frequent separation from the family. This brings a specific set of stressors leading up to the separation date, during separation, during reunion and still past the reunion time. Even more is the effect that the remaining parent’s reaction has on the children.
According to Gelfand & Teti, 1990, and Riggs, 1990, military children tend to mimic the remaining parent’s actions and stressors around stressful times. For example, a parent who is depressed and emotionally troubled during a spouse’s deployment is highly likely to have children who begin experiencing emotional instability at school or child care. In addition to this the types of deployments that a military member faces can have a severe impact on how the family works through the stress. Deployments in highly dangerous combat zones almost always show more severe and troublesome symptoms with spouses and children who remain at home anxiously waiting. Shorter training deployments in less volatile areas of the world will still show stress for the families but much less severe types.
Throughout the history of the United States there have been conflicts and wars all over the world. Families are always caught up in these skirmishes in some way or another and multiple supports and designations have developed over time to help. With each new campaign and struggle comes a new or changing method that the military creates to help the families of their soldiers. The supports that were common in World War II are not sufficient for the families of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, military families are often relocated away from their extended family supports.
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Community members can do amazing things to support military families and child care facilities play an integral role in supporting them.
When a parent is taken out of the family unit to undergo deployment or another assignment they are leaving their family without a caregiver. Suddenly all of the logistics of childcare fall on to one parent. With the increasing number of military spouses working outside of the home this makes the need for quality child care extremely important!
Child care professionals are the first line of support for military families in numerous ways.
Whether that is providing a safe place for their children to learn while they are at work or being a source of resources and reference for community resources it is an important job that should not be taken lightly.
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