Work

My work is... really boring sometimes. I have to read a lot of really boring things about therapy and kids and how deployment is hard on them, and did you know that deployment was hard on them? And deployment is hard on them... and after a while, it gets really, really boring. In fact, I fall asleep a lot. And some of the stuff I read is really creepy. But one day, I decided to write down all the creepy/funny/awkward things that I was reading so I could make fun of it later. So, here are a few of them:

Advice for teachers:
"Teachers can use separations and deployments to educate students in the areas of history, social sciences, and math, and can create an opportunity for students to discuss their feelings about war and deployment with their peers." Um... history, I understand... social sciences, I understand (isn't history in the social sciences?)-- but math?! What, is there a question that says, "If Capt. So and so is going to Iraq, and his plane leaves in 1 hour, and the average airplane goes 1000 miles an hor, and he flies over the Eifel Tower at 3:00 PM, and it is 11:30 now, what time will he reach Iraq? And as a side note, kids, how do you feel about war and deployment? Anyone?"

When talking about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder): "PTSD is not a result of something the person wants or has chosen. In fact, we know that most people would not choose to have PTSD."

One of the manuals have a letter-- the first letter that a parent can send home to their kids-- get this-- it's fill in the blank. But first, here's how they preceded the letter: After saying how 85% of the soldiers in Iraq are shot at, they said, "Don't make any promises you won't keep. Relationships are built on trust-- be honest, even if it hurts. The purpose of a letter is to open honest communication. Let your children know you are safe and well so they can return to school without too much worry... (what happened to HONEST communication?)--
First Letter Home:( just one paragraph of it to be brief)
Dear ___________
There are lots of other military people here. We live together in (dorms, tents, apartments, etc). Mine is (description). We each have our own bed. I also have my own (computer, tv, VCR, stereo, etc). I have (lots, minimal, some) privacy and time to myself. I have ___ friends and they are __________. I participate in _______ for my activities."
Privacy AND time to myself... apparently those are two different things... well, I guess they kind of are...

Fears of Children ages 2-5:
Animals- snakes, rats, mice, insects, frogs, lizards
Natural disasters- fires, earthquakes, lightning, floods, thunderstorms
Physical harm- being wounded or seeing someone wounded, receiving shots, family member dying, having an operation, doctors, nurses, dentists
Threatening situations: being in the dark, the devil, monsters, being confined or locked up, seeing faces in the window, being kidnapped, ghosts, making mistakes

When I was reading this, I thought, "Ages 2-5? What if you're still afraid of these things at 24..."

They said the average preschool aged kid has 3 fears. I'd like to see how that study was conducted... They also said that adolescents have fewer fears than children have. I'm pretty sure... that wasn't me...

They said if your kids are scared, "try telling them that they are magic. The magic gives them a feeling of control". Yeah-- lie to them-- that will help them with their fears. I did learn some actually interesting things, though-- like the average kid hears 147,000 negative comments and only 3,000 positive ones growing up. And there's a guy whose last name is Ilg, and bamboo, when it's 4 years old, is only a stick in the ground, but underneath the ground, it has this incredible networking system of roots, and the next year, it reaches 80 feet tall. Now I want a bamboo tree.

Oh, and one more: "Will medication make children change their personality? No-- medication for depression can be compared to taking medicine for a horrible headache. Medication doesn't change who you are, but it takes away the headache." Apparently none of these people have met Cassie. Or any other person on anti-depressants.