Parenting

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Children and Homecoming

The homecoming of a service member is a major change for the children in a household. They have grown physically, emotionally, and socially during the deployment. They are not as skilled at coping with their stress because they have little life experience. As a result, they may become firmly attached...
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The Military Man’s Guide to Pregnancy: 7 Things to Do When She’s Pregnant

Maybe it happened like this: You came home, kissed your wife, unlaced your boots, peeled your socks off of your blistered feet, washed the smell of mud and gunpowder out of your hair, changed into something comfortable and collapsed on the couch. She was staring at you, doe-eyed and dreamy....
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The Strength that Lies Beneath: Our Children and their Dragon Hearts

Every year since we returned from Europe, our children’s schools have held assemblies to honor Veterans. Every year our children have asked their dad to attend. He refused to do so the first two years, but has been swayed since then by the righteous indignation of our children, especially our...
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Preparing Your Children for Deployment

Children of military members make sacrifices every day. They have less quality time with their parents because of lengthy deployments and longer working hours. During your deployment it is important that your spouse and children are aware of the support programs and services available in the military community. You should...
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5 Lessons on Fatherhood from…PT?

Fathers, like children, should walk around with their eyes wide open. There are lessons everywhere – something to learn from everyday activities, wisdom to glean from our superiors and our subordinates, and a lot of applicable knowledge from our military careers. Yes, even PT can teach us a thing or...
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Lessons on Fatherhood From General Patton

For those of you who are up on your U.S. military history, you know about General George S. Patton: He was a complicated, mercurial man with delusions of grandeur, severe dyslexia and bipolar disorder. He was also one of the finest military minds that history has ever produced. He graduated...
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9 Reasons To Be The Best Military Dad You Can Be

What makes the difference between a good Marine and a great Marine? When I take the measure of my Marines – their capabilities, their strengths, their weaknesses and their welfare – I use a lot of metrics to form my judgments. But there are some things, called “intangibles” because they...
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Christmas and the Military: 9 Must Read Books for All Ages

There isn’t any time like Christmas to curl up and read a good book by the fire. It’s also the perfect time to learn more about special and different Christmas stories that have happened all over the world, or that elaborate on families missing a member during the holidays. There...
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Last Minute DIY Military Costumes for the Kids

Tomorrow’s Halloween and you suddenly realize – you have nothing for the kids to wear. This seems to happen to us every year, things get busy in October and we keep thinking, “We’ll just pop in and grab a costume at…” and then we never do. We’re left the day...
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5 Ways to Help Military New Parents

Becoming a parent for the first time is a huge adjustment for anyone, but add to that the stresses of military life and long distances from support networks and military families face unique challenges in adjusting to parenthood. Here are five ways you can help military families welcoming their first...
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