“Purple Up! For Military Kids” – Celebrate Military Children
By Kim J. Clark
Aka Expanding Love
“Purple Up!” day this year is, Wednesday, April 24, 2019
In 1986, Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger designated April as “The Month of the
Military Child”. He recognized children of military personnel make a sacrifice they did not sign
up for. The kids watch their parent/parents leave home not knowing if they will return. If they
are fortunate enough to “deploy with their parent/parents, they are up uprooted approximately
every three years. Just for a moment, pause and think about what this means… every three years
life as they know it starts over… in different country; at a new base; enrolling in a new school
and having to make new friends.
If we dare to go deeper and think about military service-related trauma, think about the ways
children of military personnel may be affected by their parent’s decision to ensure we (civilians)
continue to life free... As a result, many military children have higher stress and anxiety than
their civilian counterparts. The children experience frequent disruption of friendships, adapting
to life in new military communities and disruption in their medical care which can be very
traumatic for children with chronic physical and mental illnesses to name few. Some of the
children deal with combat related injuries and illness which affect their parents. And, the
absolute worst is, some children must deal with the loss of a parent.
Below is a comment written on the internet, March 1, 2018 at 6:31 am by Gail Anderson.
“As a former DoDEA school principal, I worked with thousands of military
dependents of all ages. Saying goodbye to friends was always a challenge.
We would always joke, “don’t say goodbye, say see you next base,” while
trying to help the children transition as smoothly as possible during “PCS
season.” One observation worth mentioning is that while most of the
youngsters seem to take things in stride just like mom and dad, many times
there were relationship issues that children needed help with. Certainly
social media makes it easier for the older kids to keep up with their friends
but my heart ached for the youngsters who didn’t really know how to say
goodbye. I am talking about the kids, usually 8-14 year old boys who got into
physical altercations with their best buddies about the same time the
families were packing up for the movers. I witnessed this on several bases
OCONUS and made sure to include the guidance counselor in any “discipline”
required when scu/es happened. To these youngsters, it seemed like they
would rather not have friends than to have to deal with the emotions of
leaving them behind. Of course the kids acted out more when there was a
deployment or the ship pulled out for months at a time, but the emotional
struggles of youngsters always having to pack up and go make new friends
was di1cult.” http://militaryshoppers.com/problems-military-children-face/
If you know any military children, this writer would invite you to always pause, and move
forward with compassion when interacting with military children.
Please join The DeMarco Project as we celebrate Military children.
Way to Celebrate Purple Up! Day
Wear Purple on Purple Up! Day
Ask local, regional, state, and federal officials to wear purple on Purple Up! day
Suggest companies and businesses ask their employees to wear purple
Ask schools, teachers to recognize Purple Up! Day
Recognize military children
Involve schools, sports teams, youth organizations, clubs, after school programs, fraternal
organizations, social clubs, coworkers, members of your organizations
Request local businesses, stores and restaurants post a Purple Up! message
Share your activities and photos #purpleup
Read more: https://militarybenefits.info/month-of-the-military-child/#ixzz5keUtKtLG
This writer would like to invite the readers to join us in celebrating “The Month of the Military
Child” by recognizing their sacrifice. The link above offers many suggestions of ways to
honoring military children. In addition to these suggestions, we invite you to give the children a
shout out on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube.
Kim is the mother of a veteran who loved his country and was willing to lay his life down for the
freedoms he believed in. She is the Founder and CEO of The DeMarco Project, a non-profit
organization. Her life’s mission it to save veteran lives and improve the quality of life for
traumatized military service persons. If you would like to support her in the work, donations are
welcome. Visit the website: www.TheDeMarcoProject.org.
The articles featured here are published in the Detroit Native Sun http://www.detroitnativesunonline.com.
Hard-copies can be obtained at the following locations.
