Elmo's Dad Gets Sent to Iraq

Cole Gamble — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Sesame Workshop, the people behind Sesame Street, is helping military families with young children cope with the deployment, redeployment and homecoming of their mommies and daddies. Would you like to see something a little surreal this morning? How about watch a music video in which Elmo’s dad tells Elmo he’s being shipped off to Iraq?

I must be a little behind, I didn't know Elmo had a dad and that his dad knew how to really rock the goatee/track suit combo Oh, and apparently he's southern? Kidding aside, I think this is a wonderful thing Sesame Street is doing. It’s the kind of thing they were created for. The program is called Talk, Listen, Connect and if you are a family with young kids and a loved one at war, you may want to check out this kit at www.sesameworkshop.org/tlc/. There is information and advice for both the child and the parent in dealing with this difficult time.

What depresses me is that this program is still needed. The reality for military familes is that mommies and daddies go to war, they come home from war, but then they get sent back to Iraq again. It’s just tragic. Once the kid has seen the video when mommy went off to Iraq the first time, what are we supposed to do when mommy goes back to Iraq a second or third time? Show them the video again? Some day this war will end and it will be up to families, not politicians, to pick up the pieces.

Moms in the Military: It Ain't Easy

Karen Murphy — Wed, 30 May 2007 12:33:00 GMT

Back in the Dark Ages when I had inexplicably promised my life and limb to the US military and was a mother at the same time, I didn't think too much about the possibility of actually having to go to war and leave my child behind. But that was the Dark Ages (and I was younger and more naive), and things have changed drastically since then. In fact, there are an estimated 7,243 moms presently deployed right now out of a total of 121,701 military moms, and none of them are having an easy time of it.

Even without considering the heartbreaking possibility of saying goodbye to your kid to go off and serve your country and then maybe never coming back, moms in the military are "stressed, underpaid and having a hard time getting help with childcare". Yeah, like all moms are, but wouldn't you think that the military would be more supportive somehow?

Don't get me wrong. I am totally against the current military involvement in Iraq, but at the same time I'm 100% supportive of those who made their respective choices to involve themselves with it on an individual basis. If people, especially parents, are going to choose the military, then the military should be more supportive of their needs as parents. In fact, the military (in my idealistic Bubble World, that is) could lead the way in showing the corporate world how to be more supportive of parents.

Not holding my breath on that one. Let's just hope that the moms, dads, and everyone else who's over there all come home safely.

Strollerderby : deployment

Elmo's Dad Gets Sent to Iraq

Moms in the Military: It Ain't Easy