Honoring Military Children During the Month of the Military Child
Behind many of our strong and valiant military service members, there’s a family serving in their own way and providing support. Every April, we recognize these contributions during the Month of the Military Child, where we honor the strength, adaptability, and resilience of military families.
Being a military child can mean navigating frequent moves, missing parents during long separations, and changing schools and friends multiple times. At a young age, they learn to sacrifice their comfort for others’ safety and to share the people they love most with the world. At Andrews Federal, we are proud to stand alongside military families and honor the incredible resilience of military children who inspire us every day.
Growing Up Military
A military childhood often looks very different from what we consider a “normal” childhood in a civilian family. According to the Military Child Education Coalition:
Military children move six to nine times — nearly three times more than non-military children. This requires military children to adapt more frequently to living in new homes, attending new schools, and becoming connected in new communities.
There are approximately 2 million children of service members in Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard families.
Many military children also have to experience the stress and fear of extended separation from parents who are deployed (sometimes to high danger areas), or completing training or assignments.
The challenges can tax the resilience of military children but they also give them the opportunity to develop special strengths and emotional maturity. Through their experiences, military children gain the skills to connect with others and to become future leaders.
Supporting Their Financial Futures
As a credit union that serves military families, we are focused on providing the resources and tools that will lead to success for our members. That includes our military children, and we are focused on giving them and their families resources to prepare for the future, be financially savvy, and enjoy fun times and camaraderie. We are proud to support military families through:
Youth savings accounts that give them a steady, dependable place to put their money and begin developing financial management skills
Financial education resources that we deploy in local schools and community partnership programs
College scholarships that can help them to achieve their educational and career dreams
Funding to support programs at schools that serve high military populations
During the Month of the Military Child, we salute our military service members and the families that provide them with constant love and support. We honor our military children for the extraordinary resilience, optimism, and strength they show in the face of constant change and frequent uncertainty.
This April, we encourage our members and community to take a moment to recognize and celebrate the military children in their lives and the way they continue to thrive as they serve alongside parents and family wherever duty calls.
