There are many tough parts about deployment—long hours, grueling conditions, missing home. When you are a parent, those challenges seem like nothing compared to the reality of missing your children and family. Being gone for big events, like birthdays or holidays, is hard but it’s often the small, everyday routines that service members miss so much.
Thanks to organizations like United Through Reading, military families don’t have to miss quite so much. And conduits afforded by modern technology facilitate connections worldwide.
How it Works
United Through Reading believes in the power of reading to keep families connected. The military member can video-record themselves reading a book and send the recording back home to the children to incorporate in their life. A family member then records the child’s reaction, sending that back to the deployed military member.
Join us in celebrating the resiliency of our little ones for Month of the Military Child. Request a #UTR location near you at #UnitedThroughReading #MOMC https://t.co/14ZDiv1Wtz pic.twitter.com/mEjQf1mMIg
— UnitedThroughReading (@UTR4Military) April 18, 2018
This two-way connection is important for many of those deployed. It creates “positive emotional connections and a love of reading,” both of which are critical to the relationship between parent and child.
Who is Involved
Aside from the participants, each military command that chooses to offer the United Through Reading program does a lot to support its mission.
United Through Reading provides materials and support to the command, along with a starter children’s book library and additional seasonal books.
Each command provides the recording equipment and volunteers to run the program. Active duty volunteers can also receive recognition for their work supporting the United Through Reading program.
Since the program began in 1989, over two million participants have been able to connect through books.
Benefits for Children and Parents
The emotional support that the program provides families is essential during deployment or other prolonged absences. It is particularly beneficial for young children who rely on a story-time routine. For families with babies, it offers the opportunity for parent and child to begin bonding.
“Reading to children improves family relationships, reduces stress, and promotes resiliency. In fact, parents reading daily to their children may be one of the greatest protective factors for families during deployment,” says Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Flake, former chief of developmental behavior of the program.
A reading routine also helps both child and parent prepare for homecoming. While usually a happy occasion, the end of a deployment is also a time of adjustment. Children may have gotten used to their routine without one of their parents. The deployed parent may find it difficult to reintegrate into the family dynamic.
The chance to have a shared history of special moments, even through a separation, is very important. United Through Reading “helps service members to create that ‘everyday’ moment throughout separations.”
“We began reading to our kids before they were born and weren’t going to let some little thing like thousands of miles of ocean stop that,” Navy Chaplain Dennis Kelly said of his time as a participant. “It reminds me why I am away: More than a job or a mission, I am there precisely because I am a Dad and want to make sure that the freedoms and security of the country I love and whose Flag I bear are there for my children.”
