Things change again once a parent has been deployed. You’ll find yourself creating new routines and adjusting to the different circumstances. But your family will adjust – and take pride in doing so.

Stick to routines.

• Routines will help your child feel secure. As time goes on and she feels more comfortable, ask her to help you create new family routines, such as Backward Day (try eggs for lunch, sandwiches for breakfast).
• Take care of yourself by including physical activity in your routines: a family walk, a game of tag, or dancing to favorite tunes. Also, eat (and serve) good foods to feel your best and get plenty of sleep. By keeping yourself physically healthy, you’ll keep yourself emotionally healthy, too.

Keep connected to the deployed parent.

• Reassure your child by keeping connected to the deployed parent with e-mails, phone calls, photos, and drawings. Send a message, create artwork, or share a photo, video, or audio message (it’s like a voicemail) on your Sesame Street Family Connections site. Your little one can even say good night to Mom by the moon at a prearranged time every night. She’ll know that her parent is saying good night, too – far away, by the same moon.

Leave the homecoming date open-ended.

• Right from the start, leave the homecoming date as open-ended as possible while giving your child something hopeful to hang on to: “Dad (or Mom) will be home as soon as his job is finished.” Help your child keep track of the days Dad is away. For example, start a paper chain and add a colorful link each day, to be presented to him or used as a decoration at homecomings. Or put a penny in a jar for each additional day. When Dad returns, your child can use the money to buy something special for him.

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