Staff Perspective: Purple Up! in Support of Military Children
April was established as the Month of the Military Child in 1986 by the former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger to recognize the unique experiences of military children. In 2011 “Purple Up! For Military Kids” was initiated by the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Military Youth and Family Program as a visible way to show support and thank military children for their strength and sacrifices by wearing purple. The color purple was chosen to represent the joint environment of the military by combining each service branch's colors. While Purple Up Day is officially on the 15th of April each year, different organizations and schools celebrate it throughout the month of April. So, whether you are a part of an organization that recognizes Purple Up Day or not, we encourage you to wear purple this Saturday (or anytime this month) to show your support for military children.
There are definitely a lot of military children to recognize and thank! In fact, according to the 2021 Demographics Profile of the Military Community (2022), there are a total of 1,602,261 military children DoD-wide. Children are considered dependents if they are age 20 or younger or age 22 or younger if enrolled as full-time students. Almost two-thirds of DoD family members are children and almost 70% of them are younger than 12 years of age. In fact, 36.8% are age 5 or younger, 32.6% are between the ages of 6 and 11, 24.3% are 12-18 years old, and an additional 6.3% are 19-22 years old.
While each military child has their own unique story, there are some common experiences to include parental deployment, family separation (from the service member parent and potentially their extended family), as well as frequent moves for children of active-duty service members (to include new homes and new schools) to name a few. While we often hear about the more stressful experiences and challenges of military life, we also know that children tend to adapt well to the military lifestyle overall and that their experiences can help increase tolerance, adaptiveness, responsibility and resiliency. It is no wonder that the dandelion is the official flower of military child (Military Brats Registry, n.d.). Military children must put down roots in so many places and regardless, they tend to bloom wherever the military takes them, surviving in a broad range of surroundings and climates. Just like the shape of a dandelion, they tend to be well-rounded. They are exposed to a variety of people, experiences, and cultures. These experiences and exposures help to define military children and shape their identity, typically starting at a very young age.
While I did not grow up in a military family, our 12-year-old son has only known what it is like to be part of a military family, experiencing military life daily. He was born while I was still serving, and his father/my spouse continues to serve. I see the pride exude from him when talking about being a military child, but I also have seen some of his more challenging experiences. As we prepare to move again this summer, I am very aware that he will be moving into his sixth home and attending his fifth school. At the same time, I am very grateful for the opportunities he has had to include living overseas, traveling, having access to support services, and being exposed to a variety of experiences, people, and cultures. His sacrifices and support are much appreciated this month and throughout the year.
If you would like more information on Month of the Military Child, to include a toolkit for how to support military children, visit the Military Child Education Coalition. Additionally, if you are working with military-connected families and children and would like additional training, I highly recommend you check out our DoD Child Collaboration Study. The Center for Deployment Psychology and Kennedy Krieger Institute are working collaboratively on a study focused on leveraging technology to enhance evidenced-based treatment outcomes for military children with developmental and behavioral health needs, which includes a series of on-demand training modules that cover topics on the military family experience, military culture, deployment, and integrating social care into behavioral health practice. Each module is free and includes free CEs for psychologists and social workers. Make sure to check our website periodically as additional trainings will be added. (Note: To continue to offer these trainings for free, we ask that you only register for the trainings when you plan to complete them.)
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Lisa French, Psy.D., is a Senior Military Behavioral Health Psychologist at the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
References:
Military Brats Registry. (n.d.). The official military brat flower. Retrieved from
https://www.militarybrat.com/dandelion/
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community & Family Policy.
(2022). 2021 demographics profile of the military community. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Defense. Retrieved from
https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2021-demographics-report.pdf
April was established as the Month of the Military Child in 1986 by the former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger to recognize the unique experiences of military children. In 2011 “Purple Up! For Military Kids” was initiated by the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Military Youth and Family Program as a visible way to show support and thank military children for their strength and sacrifices by wearing purple. The color purple was chosen to represent the joint environment of the military by combining each service branch's colors. While Purple Up Day is officially on the 15th of April each year, different organizations and schools celebrate it throughout the month of April. So, whether you are a part of an organization that recognizes Purple Up Day or not, we encourage you to wear purple this Saturday (or anytime this month) to show your support for military children.
There are definitely a lot of military children to recognize and thank! In fact, according to the 2021 Demographics Profile of the Military Community (2022), there are a total of 1,602,261 military children DoD-wide. Children are considered dependents if they are age 20 or younger or age 22 or younger if enrolled as full-time students. Almost two-thirds of DoD family members are children and almost 70% of them are younger than 12 years of age. In fact, 36.8% are age 5 or younger, 32.6% are between the ages of 6 and 11, 24.3% are 12-18 years old, and an additional 6.3% are 19-22 years old.
While each military child has their own unique story, there are some common experiences to include parental deployment, family separation (from the service member parent and potentially their extended family), as well as frequent moves for children of active-duty service members (to include new homes and new schools) to name a few. While we often hear about the more stressful experiences and challenges of military life, we also know that children tend to adapt well to the military lifestyle overall and that their experiences can help increase tolerance, adaptiveness, responsibility and resiliency. It is no wonder that the dandelion is the official flower of military child (Military Brats Registry, n.d.). Military children must put down roots in so many places and regardless, they tend to bloom wherever the military takes them, surviving in a broad range of surroundings and climates. Just like the shape of a dandelion, they tend to be well-rounded. They are exposed to a variety of people, experiences, and cultures. These experiences and exposures help to define military children and shape their identity, typically starting at a very young age.
While I did not grow up in a military family, our 12-year-old son has only known what it is like to be part of a military family, experiencing military life daily. He was born while I was still serving, and his father/my spouse continues to serve. I see the pride exude from him when talking about being a military child, but I also have seen some of his more challenging experiences. As we prepare to move again this summer, I am very aware that he will be moving into his sixth home and attending his fifth school. At the same time, I am very grateful for the opportunities he has had to include living overseas, traveling, having access to support services, and being exposed to a variety of experiences, people, and cultures. His sacrifices and support are much appreciated this month and throughout the year.
If you would like more information on Month of the Military Child, to include a toolkit for how to support military children, visit the Military Child Education Coalition. Additionally, if you are working with military-connected families and children and would like additional training, I highly recommend you check out our DoD Child Collaboration Study. The Center for Deployment Psychology and Kennedy Krieger Institute are working collaboratively on a study focused on leveraging technology to enhance evidenced-based treatment outcomes for military children with developmental and behavioral health needs, which includes a series of on-demand training modules that cover topics on the military family experience, military culture, deployment, and integrating social care into behavioral health practice. Each module is free and includes free CEs for psychologists and social workers. Make sure to check our website periodically as additional trainings will be added. (Note: To continue to offer these trainings for free, we ask that you only register for the trainings when you plan to complete them.)
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Lisa French, Psy.D., is a Senior Military Behavioral Health Psychologist at the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
References:
Military Brats Registry. (n.d.). The official military brat flower. Retrieved from
https://www.militarybrat.com/dandelion/
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community & Family Policy.
(2022). 2021 demographics profile of the military community. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Defense. Retrieved from
https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2021-demographics-report.pdf