Moving to a foreign country when Mom or Dad get deployed overseas is an adventure that few kids and families get the chance to experience together. Children get to learn a new language, experience different cultures and customs, taste new food, listen to new types of music, watch local sports teams, try new activities, and so much more.
However, it can also be intimidating and overwhelming, and it may take children a while to meet new friends and feel at home in their new community. It therefore is so important to stay in touch with old friends and family back in the United States.
Especially during the holidays, military children may miss the big family reunions back home, the food, the holiday traditions, the feeling of home and togetherness.
But, as Helen Keller said: “True friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart.”.
Here’s a sweet way to show your faraway little friends or family members, that everybody back home is thinking of them: a My Friends and I book, filled out and signed by friends and family here in the United States.
Answer questions like "What is your favorite food? What do you like to do in your free time? What songs do you like to listen to? What books do you like to read? What do you want to be when you grow up?" and insert a picture of you!
Pass the book along to family and friends and once everybody has signed it, mail the My Friends and I book to your military family and friends (note: mail to APO or FPO addresses overseas qualifies for domestic shipping!).
Imagine the look on your little friend’s face when they open their present and see Grandma and Grandpa, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors, and any other important persons in their life celebrating the Holidays “right there with them”.
After the Holidays, they can then give their book to their new friends, classmates, teachers, coaches, and people they’ve met in their new community. Once it is time to go back home to the United States or maybe start a new adventure in another country, their new friends and the memories they’ve made on this journey go and stay with them as well.
The My Friends and I book is available right here on our site.
If you are stationed with your family overseas and want to surprise your little one with a 'My Friends and I' book, simply order a copy of the book and have it sent to a friend or family member in the United States, who will make sure the book gets signed by family and friends at home.