It can be difficult for kids when a parent serving in the military is deployed. One mom came up with an ingenious idea to make the transition easier for her two young daughters when their dad was gone, and the results will melt your heart.
According to data from the Department of Defense, a whopping 34.8% of active-duty military personnel have kids, and nearly 1.6 million kids have an active-duty or reserve parent.
In light of current events, the most recent numbers suggest the U.S. has over 50,000 troops currently stationed in the Middle East and Iran, and that number will likely grow. All that is to say, there are a lot of parents away from home, and that loss is palpable for both kids and the parent or parents they are missing.
A military dad’s daughters tell him ‘I love you’ every day from their Ring camera.
The girls’ mother, Kristy Dorn, posted an adorable video on TikTok featuring Ring camera footage of her young girls leaving for school each morning, sending their love to their dad, who can check the footage for the sweet messages.
The video features various clips of the girls as they leave for school, telling their dad that they love and miss him. “Bye, Dad! I love you, and we really like your haircut!” one of the girls said to the camera before starting her day.
“Love you, Dad! Have a great day!” another daughter said in a different clip. “Daddy, I love you! See you after school!”
“My husband was recently deployed, and our girls have been telling him they love him through our security cameras every morning before school since the day he left, and it melts my heart,” Dorn wrote in a text overlay of the video.
The public was moved by the kids’ heartfelt messages to their dad.
“Omg this is the sweetest thing!! Thank you ALL for your service and sacrifice!” one user commented. “This is so sweet! Praying for a safe deployment and extra comfort for you and your girls until he returns!” another user wrote.
“I’m bawling. My husband is deployed right now in Poland and this breaks my heart. I know the feeling. This is so cute though,” another user shared. “My boys did this when their dad was deployed too… melts my heart,” another added.
Luckily, the cameras are not the only items bringing comfort to the girls while their dad is gone.
Shortly before her husband’s deployment, Dorn shared a video of him surprising their daughters with their own dolls that resembled their dad so they could “hug” him anytime they needed to.
“So sweet!” one user commented. “My brother is deployed at the moment, and before he left, we had Build-A-Bears made with his voice. This is too sweet,” another user wrote. “These saved us during my husband’s deployment!” another user revealed.
Children in military families can experience mental health and trauma-related issues due to a parent’s deployment.
Mie Ahmt | Shutterstock
Being separated from a parent for any length of time is difficult, especially for young children, but deployment adds another layer to that separation that can be even more traumatizing: the fear of serious harm.
“Kids often experience more anxiety,” said Dr. Michael Faran, a psychiatrist, retired colonel, and chief of the Child, Adolescent and Family Behavioral Health Office, or CAFBHO, at Army Medical Command. He explained, “There’s an increase in depression and anxiety. There can be a decrease in academic performance. In some adolescents, there’s an increase in the use of drugs and alcohol. And there has been more gang activity reported in some teens.”
What Dr. Faran stressed, however, is that these behaviors indicate that kids with deployed parents are “distressed.” He added, “They express it in a variety of ways.” What’s important, however, is how parents handle the distress when the signs appear.
Dorn and her husband are obviously doing a great job with their girls. They talk with them openly about their dad’s deployment and give them opportunities to express themselves with the dolls and the Ring Camera messages.
As Dr. Faran concluded, it’s “important to recognize that … the majority of children are doing well despite those challenges.” Whenever these girls miss their father and struggle with the fact that he’s stationed far away, they can always find comfort in the dolls they were given and in their conversations with him on Ring.
Megan Quinn is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Creative Writing. She covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on justice in the workplace, personal relationships, parenting debates, and the human experience.
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