SOOTHING SEPARATION ANXIETY ELMO SPECIAL HELPS MILITARY KIDS COPE WHEN MOMMY AND DADDY ARE SERVING OVERSEAS.Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer When Dena Kassenborg's husband, James, was sent to Iraq with his California Army National Guard The California Army National Guard is a component of the California National Guard, the United States Army and the United States National Guard. The California Army National Guard is composed of about 20,000 soldiers. unit two years ago, their little children couldn't understand how long he would be gone. ``My kids asked about their father every day, sometimes more than once a day,'' the Burbank mom says of Angelina, now 6, and Jimmy, 4 1/2. She opened a world map and showed them how far away from home he was. ``And we made the little chains with paper, and they'd tear off a paper for each month.'' Spouses of deployed military personnel have support groups and family assistance programs to lean on, and older children often find empathy among schoolmates who also miss an absent parent. For preschoolers, Elmo is here to help. Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop: see Cooney, Joan Ganz. , maker of PBS' ``Sesame Street Sesame Street is an American educational children's television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ,'' has created a free kit for military families titled ``Talk, Listen, Connect,'' including a special Elmo DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. , a magazine for parents and other caregivers, and a friendly Muppet poster for kids, all in English and Spanish. ``We knew that there were close to 700,000 children with Reserve and Guard and active-duty families, children who are under 5, and they did not have a lot of resources around for coping with the challenges of deployment,'' said Jeanne Betancourt, vice president of outreach and educational practices at Sesame Workshop. Gary Knell knell v. knelled, knell·ing, knells v.intr. 1. To ring slowly and solemnly, especially for a funeral; toll. 2. To give forth a mournful or ominous sound. v.tr. , its president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , described the gut impulse that led to creating the package. ``I was reading the paper one day, and there was a front-page story about a number of active-duty service personnel having their mortgages called in by some bank. And I was so ticked off about this, I came in (to the office) like a raving rav·ing adj. 1. Talking or behaving irrationally; wild: a raving maniac. 2. Exciting admiration: a raving beauty. n. lunatic LUNATIC, persons. One who has had an understanding, but who, by disease, grief, or other accident, has lost the use of his reason. A lunatic is properly one who has had lucid intervals, sometimes enjoying his senses, and sometimes not. 4 Co. 123; 1 Bl. Com. 304; Bac. Abr. Idiots, &c. , telling everyone, `We've got to do something for these kids. There are all these families making this sacrifice that the public isn't even aware of.''' Sesame Workshop sought input from the nonprofit Military Child Education Coalition and other child-development, psychology and military experts, and it secured funding from Wal-Mart and the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State Office of Mental Health to create the package, which deals with three phases military families go through: pre-deployment, deployment and homecoming. Some 400,000 copies were produced and are being distributed through family assistance programs of all branches, as well as on www.militaryonesource.com, a site meeting a wide variety of needs for men and women in uniform and their families. 1.8 million kids with deployed parents Mary Keller, executive director of Killeen, Texas-based MCEC MCEC Measurement and Control Engineering Center MCEC Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada MCEC Monroe County Electric Co-Operative, Inc. , says there are 1.8 million American sons and daughters, birth to college age, who have one or both parents serving in the Armed Forces. About 40 percent of them are under age 8. ``MCEC has always had resources for parents of young children,'' Keller said. ``What was just fabulous about working with Sesame Workshop was we never had the opportunity to relate our resources to a folk hero A folk hero is type of hero, real or mythological. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. of children, and that is Elmo.'' Deborah Smith-Porter, who has advised Marines and their spouses at Camp Pendleton, says deployment of a father or mother can quickly become a fact of life for young children. ``Even if you do one term, you're looking at three deployments in that one four-year term,'' she said. Still, preschoolers can have difficulty adjusting to the changes in routine as a parent leaves and returns, and they often cannot grasp the concepts of long periods of time or great distances. James Kassenborg, a communications technician, is back home in Burbank now, but his wife, Dena, is preparing for the possibility he will be sent into combat again. She says she may order a lifesize cutout cut·out n. 1. Something cut out or intended to be cut out from something else. 2. Electricity A device that interrupts, bypasses, or disconnects a circuit or circuit element. 3. of his photo if he is redeployed. In researching the issues facing Iraq-bound parents of preschoolers, producers of ``Talk, Listen, Connect'' looked for voices of experience like the Kassenborgs. Betancourt said taped interviews with Army families at Fort Bragg Fort Bragg, U.S. army base, 11,136 acres (4,507 hectares), E N.C., N of Fayetteville; est. 1918. Originally an artillery post, it is now the principal U.S. army airborne-training center and the site of the Special Warfare School. , N.C., led to a prime-time special -- a rare venture by Sesame Workshop into documentary filmmaking. ``When Parents Are Deployed,'' hosted by Cuba Gooding Jr., premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday on PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, . ``That special is focused on helping military families understand that in the challenges and also sometimes the frustrations they feel, they don't stand alone,'' Betancourt said. Notes from a father overseas The families interviewed have been through at least one deployment and are facing future separations. One family shows the small fortune-cookie- sized notes dad left in a jar for his children to read day by day. Others talk about dad and daughter both saying goodnight to the moon, premade videotapes of a favorite bedtime story bedtime story n. A story that is read or told to a child just before bedtime. read by Daddy, or the special treat of celebrating holidays on the wrong date to include the newly returned parent. It's possible the special will create a renewed interest in ``Talk, Listen, Connect,'' of which a small number of copies remain available. The Military OneSource Military OneSource (spelled in official publications as printed here, with the words One and Source merged into a single word with a capitalized O and S) is a government service provided by the Department of Defense through a contractor. site already warns that delivery may be delayed because of high demand. Knell said Sesame Workshop may seek additional corporate funding to make more kits, but the DVD and magazine are available for free download at www.sesameworkshop.org/tlc. The preschool kit and the prime-time special were made with military families in mind, but Knell said they offer insights even for those without a direct link to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. ``When you see these stories that are of real-life, active-duty service personnel, and you realize the enormous family sacrifices they make on behalf of all of us, you begin to appreciate what they're doing a lot more. ``And I don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. if you're for the war or against the war -- it's not really the issue here. The issue is the human devotion and sacrifice that these people do for the collective good.'' Valerie Kuklenski, (818) 713-3750 valerie.kuklenski@dailynews.com They're `proud' of each other In the ``Talk, Listen, Connect'' DVD produced for young children of military personnel, Elmo is preparing to say goodbye to his father, who must leave home for a long time. The furry red monster and his dad sing a duet titled ``Proud,'' which has become a sing-along favorite at preschools serving military bases: Daddy: Proud as any dad could be, Proud ... that's what you make me. When I see you sharing with your friends, Opening a door or helping someone out, That makes me ... Both: Proud ... Elmo: as any son could be, So proud that you're Elmo's daddy. When Elmo knows you had a busy day And you still make the time to read Elmo a story Daddy: That makes me proud. Elmo: Proud! Daddy: And I... Both: know that I'm lucky to have someone who will always care, and even when we can't be together, we just close our eyes, and we'll both be there. -- V.K. WHEN PARENTS ARE DEPLOYED What: A documentary about military parents facing deployment with young children at home. When: 9 p.m. Wednesday. Where: KCET KCET Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (Japan) KCET Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology . CAPTION(S): 4 photos, box Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) Not a home for the holidays Soldier's families learn to cope with separation during season of togetherness (2 -- color) - Dena Kassenborg, left, on how Jimmy, 4 1/2, and Angelina, 6, dealt with the deployment of their father, James, right. (3 -- color) ``When Parents Are Deployed'' aims at keeping children and their parents connected during military separations. (4 -- color) no caption (Elmo and his father) Box: They're `proud' of each other (see text) |
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