Award Yourselves – Tip #125
As a family you usually won’t be recieving any military medals or awards for surviving and even thriving through a deployment (despite deserving them!) but… you can give them to each other. It is important that you acknowledge what you have gone through, achieved, survived and accomplished through the deployment as a family and as individuals. Some families I know how had ‘dogtag’ medals made for each of their children and their absent family member has awarded them when they returned. They have made them for both funny and serious things. You don’t have to spend money on them if you are on a tight budget. Print off some from the internet or use ones below (from Family Deployment Journal).
It is really about recognizing someone in your family for their courage and strength in the absence of an important family member. Sometimes just being acknowledged is all your children (whether they are 5 or 15yrs olds) need to increase their feelings of accomplishment, self worth and confidence in their ability to overcome things even in challenging circumstances.
For more information about our tips, blogs, resources or books go to: http://www.whileyouwereaway.org
To submit a tip write to: Megan@whileyouwereaway.org
Filed under: Military Family Support - Tips from the 101 Tips books, Teen Tips, Tips for Educators and Deployment Support Workers Tagged: | awards, deployment, family, journal, life, military, support
