Monday, July 22, 2013

Military Life and My Anxious Child:

 Our children don't know exactly what Clayton does.

They know he is a helicopter mechanic. But they don't know what a soldier is. They don't know why he fixes Apaches and what the Apache was made for. They know that sometimes he goes to work before they wake up but comes home before they go to bed. They know that sometimes they won't see him that day. They know that it could be several "sleeps" before they get to see him again. But they don't know WHY:

Will is almost five! I can't believe it!

From about three months of age he became this super mellow kid. Before that it was three months of almost non-stop crying. I used to joke that he had met his quota for tears and that's why he just seemed to go with the flow. 

I never would have suspected that to change when we joined the army. He was just a super chill kid! 

When my husband first left, it didn't phase him, but he was only a week from turning two. However, after my husband had to go back to AIT after a two week Christmas break, he figured it out. Daddy was had been gone for awhile, came back and now was gone again. 

Suddenly the kid who would walk into nursery no problem didn't want to leave my side. And that is when I noticed the anxious side to him that had really always been there but had no reason to present itself.

Boy did it have a good reason now!

I know some families are very hard core army with their children. Their kids understand that daddy/mommy is going to go fight the bad guys. And that's great, but I hesitate to go there with my kids. They get so anxious about when they are going to see him again, I don't want them to worry about IF they are going to see him again. Not yet. I want them to sleep soundly not knowing about the bad guys that their daddy helps keep at bay. And right now that works for us.

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