PCSing and Military Children

Today we’re taking an autism break (maybe) to talk about the military child aspect of April. I think it’s only fitting with our impending move to talk about PCSing.

Change is hard for any child. Moving is hard for any child. Military children are often expected to move more often than their peers who don’t have a parent in the military. In some cases (like my kids), they get to stay in the same place for several years. In other, like the case  of many of our neighbors, they can be in one place for less than a year before it’s on to the next. OK, so I can’t leave autism out of this because there are so many kids on the spectrum, and the moves and changes only compound this for so many of those children.

Then there are children like mine. The oldest will ask after 2-3 years, “When is it time to move?” “I’m ready to move.” “Can we move now?” He doesn’t know staying in any one house for more than four years. He likes to move. In a way, he likes the ability to start fresh because as an Aspie, no one knows. No one bullies him. He’s the new kid everyone says hello to in the hall until they figure out that he’s different. In this aspect, he likes being the new kid in school.

The little one is ready to move too. He doesn’t really remember the last move since he wasn’t quite two yet. This time, he got to go see the new house with us. He was ready to back his toys and bed and go that night. He has no concept of all of the moving parts that need to be in place. Every day since he’s been asking when we’re going to the other house. I think his eagerness to move this time may be that it’s just a new house, but every thing else will still be familiar. We’re just moving to a new house on the same installation since they’re tearing down the old housing to build new housing. Yes, this also means you won’t hear about the leaky roof in the current house anymore (yes, it still leaks to this day since August 2011).

Someone who is going to make the first day of our move flow much better is our respite care provider. She’s going to spend the day with our five year old since he’s off school for most of this month. This way, we can concentrate on the movers. We did it the first time without help with the kids, but it’ll just make it that much easier this time.

Which brings me to ACS, EFMP, and IMCOM. Our current EFMP manager here will be retiring soon. Like end of May soon. At last news, they weren’t even interviewing people yet because there was a freeze on her job that IMCOM needed to lift so they could even place the job as being open to take applicants. If this doesn’t happen, and doesn’t happen soon, there will be a lot of families for the new incoming influx in July/August who will be left in limbo, and it won’t be pretty. Hopefully IMCOM can get their stuff together for our families because it’s now April.

What are things you do during your move to make it flow smoothly? I have to admit that I’m pretty light on the advice as all our moves have been door to door, and the kids have handled them well, and even get excited.

*Photo from istock