Sending family to Iraq

[rose4cale]

We're getting ready to send my 'baby' cousins off to Iraq. The family is getting together tonight and they will leave in October. I still remember them as hyper-active, annoying little boys. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> The oldest and youngest of the four boys are now men going to serve our country. What do I tell my kids? They have been pretty sheltered from the news about war and fighting. They know the boys are soldiers, though I don't think they understand what a soldier does. Any ideas? I hope I can keep it together telling them goodbye. I'm a pretty emotional type of gal.

 

[JazzysMom]

My nephew is in the Army. He has served 3 rounds in Iraq, 1 in Kuwait & is due to go back to Iraq the end of October. It was very rough for our family since his older brother was killed in a car accident a few years prior. We had a huge family send off to honor his courage. My daughter at the time was 4. I explained to her that Soldiers are people who are in the Military (Army Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard & Reserves). Their jobs in the military vary. My nephews was to drive the tanks & try to protect our other soldiers and others from the "bad" guys that try to hurt people for reasons that we dont completely understand. She was aware that my Dad along with all my brothers were Soldiers so she had an idea of the subject. Thank goodness he has been home a few times. He has already received the purple heart & my daugher has even ???? if he can be killed. I said yes he can, but he will be very careful. Many people shelter there children from the "news" & that is understandable. As a matter of fact after 9/11 when it was constantly on the news is when my daughter was exposed to it. I would sit & cry & she would cry also. I told her about the buildings going down & why, but would never watch the news again until she went to bed. I didnt realize the impact it would have on her. I didnt think she would ???? it. I didnt realize how observant kids can be. Just tell your kids that your cousins have a new job as soldiers & leave it as that. If they ???? it further, be prepared to answer it tho......

 

[julie]

I'm sorry to hear this shelly. I really can't offer you too much as I've neer had that situation happen in my family (I am the one getting deployed next year, but not to iraq) but for me, I have asked my family to be honest with all memebers of my family, even the young ones. It's important to me for them to know (of course, explained in terms that young children will understand) where I am, what I am doing, and why (just the basics for the youngsters will suffice).

In my book, soldiers defend our country, protect our rights, help us keep food on our plates, make sure "bad guys" don't hurt us. Maybe some talking about that might help.

I wish them the best!

 

[rose4cale]

Thanks guys. My daughter kept saying 'when are they going to the tug of war'? Not sure how that came into play. I told her that my cousins were going far away to keep the bad guys away from us. That they were making sure that we were going to stay safe so we could still go outside and play and do the things that we enjoy. We talked about how brave they are to fight for everyone here and even for people they don't know. She must not be as sheltered from the news as I thought, because she asked if they were going to help the hurricane people, because there are soldiers helping down there. They do observe way more then I give them credit for.

On an upnote, the party was great. The boys were laughing and having a great time and glad to see everyone.