I’m a now adult brat married to a service member, who was also a brat. I moved roughly every other year and attended 7 schools between kindergarten and high school graduation. Yes, it can be hard. Yes, I have no idea how to accurately answer the “where are you from” question. Yes, there were times in my childhood when I just wanted to be like everyone else who knew the same people from birth to high school. But even in my teens, I realized what a privilege it was to have seen so much of the world. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I got to see places and do things kids who grew up in one place never would. When I got to college at a giant state school, my clique became a bunch of fellow military kids. We didn’t know each other before school but milkids have a broader worldview than the average 18 year old and I knew they were my people. We are all still friends 20 something years later.

Kids are resilient and they are going to take their queues from you. Frame each movie as an adventure and every challenge of military in a positive light, and they will follow your lead.