“My Daddy is a Hero”: Book Teaches Young Children about War-time Deployment

A book by Chad Childers to help children Understand their parents' wartime deployment.

It is sad to say, but sometimes military children can often be overlooked. How much do they actually understand about their parents’ overseas deployment? Many parents struggle to explain this difficult issue to their children. “My Daddy Is a Hero” teaches these young children about their parents’ war-time deployment.

My name is Chad Childers. I am a disabled Army veteran. The military has always been a very big part of my life. I grew up hearing both of my grandfathers’ war stories. I usually heard them more than once too. Shortly after I graduated college from Western Kentucky University in 2000, I joined the Army. I arrived at my first unit, 2nd Ranger Battalion, and was sent overseas in spring of 2002, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. I was also deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 with the 82nd Airborne Division. I was then honorably discharged from the Army in August of 2004.

Before Daddy left he gave me a hug and said goodbye. I didn't want him to go. It made me cry. -An excerpt from Chad Childers' book.

The Army gave so much to me that I wanted to try and give something back. I searched for a way that I could help my fellow brothers in arms. I was drawing a picture of a soldier one day and the idea hit me. I could put my experiences and drawings into a children’s book. While in the Army, I witnessed first hand the struggles parents face when they have to explain to their children why it is their father or mother is going to war. What I saw with my friends’ children pressed upon my heart so much that I wanted to come up with some way to help all military families cope with this difficult situation.

An illustrated excerpt from a book by Chad Childers to help children Understand their parents' wartime deployment.

This book, through the eyes of a child, teaches young military children the whole process, from start to finish, of what happens when their father or mother is sent to a foreign land with the armed forces. “My Daddy is a Hero” explains the reason the parent is going to war, situations they encounter while there, cultural differences between Americans and people in the Middle East, and their safe return home. The book consists of fourteen illustrations, each with a corresponding rhyme. To order this book go to www.lulu.com/content/711036.