April is the Month of the Military Child. The color Purple has been chosen as a visual recognition for support. This celebration or recognition of the military child/teen/student is so important for people to understand the good, bad, awesome and sometimes ugliness that these kiddos experience. Their servicemember parent(s) are transferred numerous times throughout their career. This means that the families are transferred as well. As the servicemember parent(s) go about their work in the new installation, the families must adjust to new housing, schools, communities, extracurricular activities and more. The student may attend a Department of Defense schools, local public schools, private schools, or parochial schools which have a different persona.

My children attend DODEA schools but participated in the local community. My son used to say that he was from Ft. Campbell, KY. I did not truly listen or take his comment to heart until 30 plus years later while serving on the Arkansas Council of Military Child board. We had a guest speaker from the military youth organization, BLOOM, state that most students cannot say “where they are from.” BLOOM is such a great organization to help military teens with so many issues that most military connected students can relate. I encourage everyone to look at their website.

I found a poem on the BLOOM website that says, “I serve, too.” This poem truly does highlight the heart of the author’s emotions. Yes, the military connected student does serve as well as the entire family. Thank you Department of Defense (DODEA) for making April the Month of the Military Child (MOMC) but they are military connected 12 months, 365 days, etc. We should be thanking our students on a regular basis.

Be sure to wear purple to say thank you to our military connected students for April!

CLICK HERE to learn more about BLOOM.

CLICK HERE to view Military Resources for Children and Families.