8th grader tells what it's like to grow up in a military family

Destiny Lockwood, who will be an eighth grader at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard this fall and is a member of the Military Teens Club at the school, originally wrote this for a school assignment and later read it to the club.

“Her poignant description is an important reminder about the challenges of some of our biggest military heroes — our military kids,” said Lori Steinhauer, coordinator of the Military Teens Club, which is sponsored by the Fleet & Family Support Center.

Destiny is the daughter of Denise and SW1 (SCW) Keith Lockwood, who is in the Training Department of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5.

By Destiny Lockwood

Being military is very hard. It’s hard on the children and the spouses. Sometimes the service member will have to deploy somewhere. There are lots of activities to keep the children busy while mom or dad is away.

Children with parents in the military can experience some of the effects that children with divorced parents have. Children at home with mom or dad worry that that parent will leave too! If a spouse is frustrated the children will feel like it is their fault. Some children feel that the service member doesn’t love him or her when they go on deployment. When children start to feel like this the parent should tell them that they are loved. Parents should never lie to their children to hide them from the dangers that their parent will face.

When it comes to sharing feelings children lack the vocabulary to express how they feel. The service member should show the children where they are deploying. They may feel more relaxed about the deployment if they know what their parent is doing there. Military children move six to nine times while growing up. They carry a lot of responsibilities. Military children have to worry about things that most kids will never know. There are over 1.7 million military children in the world.

Although being military spouses and children is hard, you learn to stick together. You know that your parent is doing his or her part in the world.