When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The New Normal?



Educators, administrators and social workers will come together in Springfield, Illinois next month for an institute entitled “Living in the New Normal: Helping Children Thrive in Good and Challenging Times." Brought about by concerns about military children dealing with illness, injury, or death of a parent, the "Living in the New Normal," or LINN, initiative was developed by experts in the fields of trauma and grief, resiliency, health care, and child development.
LINN encourages families to develop coping skills, supports homefront efforts on behalf of children, and provides educators and others with information of use in helping children be resilient and courageous during times of uncertainty, trauma, and grief.


This is good, of course, and all such efforts are important.  Still, I can't help but be saddened by the resignation that seems to be part of calling this "the new normal."  Do we really want to think that way?  Once we've accepted children's uncertainty, trauma, and grief as byproducts of their parents' military service, to what low will the next "new normal" slip?
Posted by About AART at 7:43 AM

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