Question for military wives/moms?

Question

my husband ships out for bootcamp in november and i am starting to get nervous. my main worry is our daughter who is almost 1. how has military life affected you and your children?

Answer 1

the kids hate it but they have gotten used to it. it has become a part of life, but they hate moving all the time, switching schools, having to make new friends all the time, and hardly ever have a 2nd parent. my oldest child feels like she is the 2nd parent. my kids are now 15, 14 and 10. my husband has been in for 6 years and is now on his 3rd deployment. it is definitely not an easy life and we all knew that going in, but there is only so much a family can take. my husband wants to get out but his time is not up until 2010. it would probably be different if we didnt have to do 12-15 month tours every other year. but that is the army

Answer 2

I'm the daughter of a military lifer Dad and the mother of a military son.  As a child we moved alot, my older sister and I were born in Germany and my two younger sisters were born in Italy.  I was always very proud of my Dad as a defender of the greatest country in the world, but he was gone a lot.

My son, his wife and their little boy were just stationed in Hawaii and I'm very excited for them.  They love it.  They've both been getting a great education and my son will be better prepared for life if he ever retires from the Air Force.  So I'd say overall, it should be a great experience.

Answer 3

My oldest son has changed schools three times in the last year and a half.  You will deal with separations that can be very hard on the children both on the return from the separation and during the separation.  The biggest thing you will need to keep in mind is that you will need to be VERY strong and be able to fill both the position of Mom and Dad during those times.  I have had to learn how to support my husband in his career even when it isn't the easiest thing to do.  There are great benefits but they do come at a cost.  Good Luck

Answer 4

My hubby is in Iraq right now, we just hit our 1 year mark. Our daughter had just turned 3 when he left, so she was definitely old enough to understand that daddy was gone. Our son was 4 months old when he left, not old enough to understand. It is very hard on the kids when the understand daddy (or mommy) is not there. The biggest thing was to let her know up front that daddy had to go away fro his job and that he would be gone a long time. We also made sure she understood that it was ok to be sad, but we couldn't be sad all the time. I just make sure that there are always pictures and home movies of him around and she gets to talk to him on the phone every time she can. He also makes sure to send he small things in the mail...cards, stuffed animals, etc. It is by no means an ideal situation, but you do the best you can. I also make sure to tell dad as much as I can about what the kids are doing and learning. I want him to feel as involved as possible. Whether they tell you or not, they all fear that the family is going to grow and move on without them. It is very important to make them feel involved.