Nicole June Reporting
njune@clarksvillenow.com
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Long-term deployments are nothing new to military families in and around Fort Campbell, but the stress they place on these families is often hard to overcome, especially for young children.
Brandy Marik, veteran and military spouse at Fort Campbell, began noticing that her daughter Alyssa, who was nine months old at the time of her father’s second deployment, was displaying unusual behaviors. A short time later, one of Alyssa’s first words was ‘sad’.
Marik realized her daughter was upset because she missed her daddy, and she was inspired to write a children’s book to help her daughter cope with the situation. “I wanted to write a book for her to help her understand a little more about deployment, but also to help me connect with her and build some positive ways to deal with deployments,” she said.
Alyssa is now four years old, and Marik said the book helped bring them together during a difficult time.
She showed the book to a few friends, who suggested she try to have it published. Marik had not considered publishing the book at first, but eventually found a publisher and even provided the illustrations for the book, “My Daddy is Deployed”.
The book is geared toward children ages 0-4, and describes the story of a little girl who searches for a way to bring her father back home and longs for the day when he will return for good.
Marik believes military families can benefit greatly from reading the story to their young children.
“The most important idea for me was not a just a way to introduce deployments. I needed a way to connect with my daughter too,” she said. “You have to find a way to grow that connection with your children while your husband is deployed so that you’re stronger at home.”
“My Daddy is Deployed” can be purchased through Amazon.com or CreateSpace.
