FORT HOOD, Texas -.1st Cavalry Division's 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team's Family Readiness Group, took time during its last meeting to bring in an outside organization to help parent cope with their Soldiers' separation
The "Greywolf" FRG invited specialists from the Military Child Education Coalition to hold a Parent-to-Parent workshop Feb. 17, at Fort Hood's Oveta Culp Hobby Soldier & Readiness Center.
The purpose of the workshop was to provide parents with strategies and resources to promote long-term school success for the children as many of the parents have been separated through 3rd HBCT's deployment to Iraq.
"Military Child Education Coalition conducts Parent-to-Parent workshops covering 10 topics; however, the topic for this workshop will be story time for children," said Karen Maxton, a program coordinator from Wichita Falls, Texas.
The Rotary Club donated a book, While You Are Away, for the workshop's highlight event "Tell Me a Story;" MCEC is always looking for ways to promote early literacy, Maxton said.
"It focuses on deployments -- each family will be given a copy of the book," Maxton said.
The coalition gears its workshops toward parents watching the story being read, pulling out the talking points and taking them home to practice.
"This is exciting," said Tracey Arnold, a military spouse from San Antonio, Texas. "We just want to get the kids to connect with their emotions, get them to express themselves until they feel it's OK, and also, give them a great story to empower and enlighten them."
Being a motivational speaker and life coach, Arnold works with children, and the one thing she said she wanted to express is that others do not have to come with the same background she has, but that all a person has to be is genuine, and as long as they are genuine, the children will love every minute of it.
Arnold, who is married to the 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd BCT's commander, Lt. Col. Quinton Arnold has an 18-year-old daughter, and although she and Quinton are newlyweds, she said the emotions of separation are the same.
"We all go through those emotions; we all have missed something in our lives," she said. "Especially with deployment, it is something we should allow the kids to talk about and give them a chance to express their feelings."
After story time, the children designed picture frames, while the MCEC team discussed tips with their parents on how they and their children could stay connect to a Soldier who is deployed, Maxton said.
"Story time was really fun because the book is about an Army kid," said Camden Davis, 10, from Richmond, Va.
Camden, who was working on a picture frame for her father, Sgt. Charles Davis, who is currently deployed with Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd HBCT, said she misses her father very much.
For more information about MCEC's Parent-to-Parent workshop, contact 3rd HBCT's Family Readiness Support assistant, Lori Carpenter at (254) 288-5206 or log on to www.MilitaryfamilyBooks.com.
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