Soon our family will be welcoming home our soldier and we are so excited! He will be living and working close enough to be present for holidays, birthdays and just weekends with the We Serve Too! kids. This is new to all of us and we can’t wait! As a mother, grandmother, and someone who has worked closely with kids all my life, I have been contemplating a few things about this . I believe that We Serve Too! A Child’s Reunion Book is a great way for kids to talk through a reintegration no matter if the family is intact, divorced or supported by grandparents or other caretakers.

If you are a single parent returning from deployment , or the caretaker of children while someone has been away, here are  three  things that might be a little helpful to remember:

1.Kids are creatures of habit (actually we all are ) and what they are used to is not always easy to undo. In our Reunion book we address this, in showing that feelings get complicated . Not expecting things to go smoothly will avoid lots of hurt feelings.

2. Homecoming is wonderful…sometimes. Everyone has had lots of time to think about how great this is going to be!  No one has thought about what it will be like when a child wants to go home to the parent they have been living with when you have them for the weekend , what it will feel like when the child rejects gifts or planned activities that have been lovingly offered, or on the child’s side,what it will feel like to be disciplined by this parent they have waited so long for.

3. Take it slow. Get to know each other again. Find things that you share in common. Let kids know that though they are used to life one way, life has changed course …for the better! Let them know that you understand they miss Mommy , but you love them and you are there, they will see Mommy in a day or two (or whatever the arrangement is). Be confident, friendly and not overly empathetic. When kids know you are acting in their best interest, they begin to feel safe and accept the new arrangements. Finding things to do, like getting kids engaged in helping you make dinner, washing the car together, reading a story, will help calm the feelings and build bonds between you.

Here is one word of caution, don’t be intimidated. Don’t let kids cry and get when they want…this will create a mess beyond your imagination and honestly makes kids feel insecure and scared. They need to know that a mature adult is caring for them and they are not in charge. It is hard sometimes  being a parent who has been away, it creates undue guilt at times. If you want to read more about this, look at our free parent guide on our reunion book here:https://www.weservetoo.com/Discussion_Guides.html

As the grandma, I want to help my son as he comes back, gets an apartment , and begins to enjoy his beautiful We Serve Too! kids!

I came up with the idea of a “Daddy Box”. This  box has a few things he may not think about or know about yet: the special soap that little girl needs, the laundry soap for said little girl who is allergic to other kinds, children’s Tylenol, children’s cold medicine, a box of band aids , neosporin for any little cuts that happen, a toothbrush and favorite toothpaste for each kid, children’s shampoo. You could add maybe a few favorite foods that kids are used to, night lights, or toys that are familiar and may need to be found in both homes. If you have a young lady nearing teen years,  who will be with Dad, make sure that you provide things in case changes of life occur on his watch. I bet you could think of some other things, if you do, please let me know since I only have two more weeks to get it ready!

If you are a parent coming home, Welcome Back, and thank you!

No Comments »

Hi, I have not written anything all the Christmas season and into the first 5 days of the new year. There is a reason for that, I have been busy soaking up the joys and blessings of our first Christmas with our soldier son for quite some time.

This year, he was here , being Daddy to the We Serve Too! kids and enjoying his brothers and sister. We had a beautiful day and overnight in a downtown hotel and a wonderful meal that made us all full for many hours later.

We had so many things to be thankful for. My husband had come through a rough operation and subsequent life threatening blood clot to the lung, and that fact that we were all sitting together over dinner, all in only two weeks,  by the grace of God, made it seem as if our days were gold.

I watched soldier son, play with his kids, open a lovely painting done by his daughter to hang in his apartment that will finally be in the same state we live in! ( I had to show it off below).  After two tours in Iraq and recently a year in Afghanistan, this was a reunion we had waited for a long time.

There  will be a shift in how we live soon, the New Year coming will bring him home in ways we have not enjoyed for years. He will have more time and visits with the kids and there will be joys and struggles ahead as they learn what it means to turn reunion into regular life.

As I watched the days slip by quickly, this time, not a year but only a matter of weeks will pass until he flies back home, and I  know that this will be a new chapter for him and for us all. This Christmas will be a lovely memory of candlelight, tiny colored lights on the tree, laughter and conversations, and love we had being all together.

I know that many of you will be starting a deployment, or welcoming a reunion. Whatever the New Year brings , may you have the strength and courage to face it square and count the joys that come each day. If you need some help to explain deployment or reunion to little ones this year, please read our free discussion guides on our website https://www.weservetoo.com/Discussion_Guides.html, our books and resources are there for you, and if they help, we have done what we set out to do.

May this New Year bring you blessings ,

Kathleen and Paula

No Comments »

http://www.faithdeployed.com/2012/11/why-are-books-effective-for-reaching-the-heart-of-a-child-plus-give-away/
Join our conversation about books and children with our friends at Faith Deployed (this is a great blog for Military Families). You can enter the giveaway by leaving a comment at the end of the blog on Faith Deployed.

The blog is discussing how a hard back children’s book is a special gift to a child, and why we felt we needed to print our books that way, though it is more expensive and difficult than paperback or e-books.  The contest will award 10 We Serve Too! books and 1 Grand Prize of all our books (all 4 full color hardback books, each with a dogtag, the Military ABC, and our Afghanistan booklet) !!! We can’t wait to read your comments!

A big thank you to Jocelyn Green of Faith Deployed for featuring our books!

Why Are Books Effective for Reaching the Heart of a Child? (Plus Give-away!)

www.faithdeployed.com

by Kathleen Edick

No Comments »

As a Military Family, have you ever had to pack up and move to a new location, that thing that the Military calls PCS (Permanent Change of Station)? Are you a civilian who has ever had to move?

The We Serve Too!™ Kids are moving!  And dear Little Daisy, that sweet Golden Retriever, knows a secret,–a secret that will help ease anxiety and bring comfort to little ones and families anticipating a move.   Little Daisy’s Worst/Best Day, the 4th book in the award-winning We Serve Too!™  series, warmly and tenderly explores the topic of relocation and moving  —an experience common to Military and civilian families alike!

This book is a great addition to our series, rounding out all the major issues that kids face as a proud member of the Military Family. These four books, help parents, teachers, counselors friends and family , discuss openly the fears, the joys and the changes that come with deployment, reunion, waiting for a homecoming and now moving to a new location!

This book features the We Serve Too! kids, navigating the emotions of leaving the known and going positively into the unknown. The focus of the story, is an acknowledgment of the losses, and the forward look to the things that make life an adventure and joys of new experiences. It also focus ‘s on the ways we can stay connected with those we love.

This page takes you to our store page https://www.weservetoo.com/bookstore_.html. If you scroll to the bottom, you can peek inside each of the We Serve Too! books, including Little Daisy!

Paula and I are really excited about this book. It is fun, touching and a great way to prepare kids for your next move. If you get one, please let us know what you think, we would love to hear from you!

No Comments »

Well, Paula and I are excited and honored that We Serve Too! has won the Mom’s Choice Award in the category of a Children’s Picture Book Series!  The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) evaluates products and services created for children and families. The program is globally recognized for establishing the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. Thank you Mom’s Choice Award!

Some of the distinguished panel members who evaluate products  include : Dr. Twila C. Liggett, ten time Emmy winner and founder of PBS’s Reading Rainbow, Julie Aigner-Clark, creator of Baby Einstein and The safe Side Project, Jodee Blanco, New York Times best selling author, Priscilla Dunstan creator of the Dunstan Baby Language, and Patricia Rossi, host of NBC’s Manners Minute, Dr. Letticia Wright D.C. , host of the Wright Place TV Show and Catherine Whitcher M.ED , special needs expert and founder of Precision Education Inc.  You can imagine , we are pleased that We Serve Too! has been found worthy of an award!

Of course, the judges that love our books best are the ones with cookie crumbs around the mouth, camo overalls, and lots of energy! To them we say thank you, and may our books bring honor and courage to each Military Kid!

We have to add a  photo or two here of the actual stickers and award paper that came to us in the mail…of course we know that the best award of all ,is that of a little one saying to a parent “ please read me We Serve Too! again!”

No Comments »

Devon Edick's dad salutes the flag

After noting that most of our sales lately at We Serve too! are the reunion book, we say Welcome Home to those who have been serving in Iraq and other places in the world!

We are thankful for your safe return and your family has waited patiently and long for this day. We know things that are good do not necessarily mean that they are easy, so we are offering you the link to our reunion book parent guide. Even if you do not purchase the book, the guide is yours to use as you see fit. You can download it and perhaps at the very least know that you are not alone, that the things you are going through are common to many Military Families. Children love our colorful hardback books that come with a dog tag that says” I will be strong and courageous“, a fitting sentiment for those strong Military Kids!

This link http://weservetoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Reunion-Parent-Guide-letter-size.pdf will take you to the pdf, for coping with reunion. Again, Welcome home, thank you for all you do for our nation; for the protections, sacrifices and hard work.  We pray you will now find joy in your Homecoming!

No Comments »

Hi!

There has been nothing new on this blog for awhile, I have been at the drawing board, literally! I am going to post the cover and two pages  of our upcoming book on relocation…I think you all have stories about PCS (permanent change of station, for those of you outside the Military)

This is the cover…as you can see, moving can be difficult. The tone of this book is to help kids know they are not alone in not wanting to leave behind what they know, but that good things can come of it. Paula has written this in her famous rhyming style, and it is fabulous!

The story title is Little Daisy’s Worst/Best Day! I don’t want to give it all away, but do want to let you know that is a true story, that the author Paula Johnson experienced, as Daisy had to leave her home full of foster kids (social services said too many dogs,) and Paula and Barry took Daisy to live with them on the farm.

All the feelings of sad , mad, getting used to things, and finally acceptance, good memories and positive outcomes are there for parents and kids to discuss.

What kids can resist wriggling, soft, sweet puppies? The story begins with 9 of them!

The long scary ride to a new place far away. Not only far, but also different! You can see that Daisy is not too thrilled, but as it does in real life, the new that we resist, can be the best!

Well, that is all I will share right now! I have lots of painting yet to do! We would love to hear your stories of kids and PCS adventures if you want to share!

We are hoping to publish by early March! We will keep you posted!

No Comments »

Hello!

We are excited to give you a preview of the new look to our series of books for Military kids! Soon we will have a set of 4

1.We Serve Too! A Child’s Deployment Book

2.We Serve Too! A Child’s Reunion Book

3.We Serve Too! The Homecoming Box (Sustainment)

4.We Serve Too! Little Daisy’s Worst /Best Day (a relocation, or moving book)

We love the bright colors and how they will look on a child’s bookshelf. We would love to hear what you think of the new look!

Here they are :

2 Comments »

Well, we have been a Military family for a number of years now, and soon we will have a new soldier in the family. Our youngest is about to graduate from Basic Combat Training at Ft. Sill Oklahoma.  BCT is that process where boys become men and civilians become soldiers. They never come out the way they went in.

Now youngest son is on the path to a new journey in the Army. Life is good, busy and as always- requiring much faith and humor.

Paula and I will be travelling to Ft. Sill for this momentous occasion. We are going to be bringing some books with us, and if you are at Ft.  Sill, please contact us. We would like to give away a few books to the kids there. There will be a limited number of books , so first ones to contact us will get them!

We plan to have 12 books to give away, 4 deployment books, 4 reunion books, 4Homecoming box books. You will not know which title you will get…so surprise!

You can e-mail us at weethepeoplepublishing@gmail.com, that works better than comments here (since this does not go directly to our e-mail for some reason)  Write us your name, number and ages of your children (if you want to send names we can sign books for them.) You will have to pick up the books on post while we are there Sept 29 or 30. We will give you more information when you contact us. We can’t wait to meet you!

No Comments »

Hi!

We would like to make you aware of the parents guides available for We Serve Too! A Child’s Deployment Book , and We Serve Too! A Childs’ Reunion Book. Deployment and Reunion bring up many questions for children and concerns for the adults who love them. With our free parents guides, you get the story word for word,page by page. There are suggestions of ways to  respond to questions. I want to give you a peek at what you can expect when you go to the link I will post here and access the guides. One of the first pages of our deployment guide goes like this:

Daddy’s unit was deployed his work is far away, and though we are not overjoyed a soldier must obey. The Army said we couldn’t go and Dad said wait right here and wait for me till I get back in just about a year.~ What does it mean that a soldier must obey? A soldier takes an oath, a special promise that he will go wherever the military sends him to protect our country. This is an important promise that every soldier makes. ~ How long is a year? Use the picture   to explain that a year is the time from one birthday to the next ( a child’s birthday is an important date for them) Use the seasons to go through it, e.g. the birthday is September you could say that is in the fall, ~ What things do you like to do in the fall? Winter? Spring? Summer? ~ What do you think the people in the story are feeling? ~ How did you feel when you were told how long your parent would be gone? ~ What things will the family miss doing together? ~ How can they make it easier to make Dad a part of the things they are doing?

A Page in the Parent Guide 2 or the

Reunion Book goes like this:

We all need some time for our family to mend, but I promise you things will get better again. I was not here for Christmas, it broke my heart too. (He picked up Ted Teddy and matched a lone shoe.) But our country called me and it hurt little dear, to know I would be gone when you needed me here. Let children know there is a bigger picture. You are serving your country and though you wanted to be there, your job is important for the Family (it is how they get what they need), for the people of the country where you deployed (you protect and defend people wherever you serve), and for our country (this nation cannot maintain its freedom without you).It is important to let children know you did miss them and the pain of separation is not only theirs, but yours too. This is a sacrifice you all make as a family. You might promise each other you won’t indulge in self pity and resentment. Make a team pact. Use this teachable moment to train them to think outside themselves toward the needs of others too.Discuss mending, what it means- and some ways that your family can mend. Incorporate your ideas naturally into your daily living as much as possible. As you model being OK, they will be OK  too.

This is just a small sample. You may go to our page http://weservetoo.com/parentsleaders/and get the free download.  Click on Book Guide 1(deployment) or Book Guide 2(reunion) . From our home page, click on resources, then parent/leader and you will get to the same page, scroll down to the book downloads. You can use it to talk with kids, open some discussion and help you to think through these things as well. We hope you find them helpful and that you and your little ones will enjoy the resources at We Serve Too!

No Comments »