Books from Afar

Parenting from the other side of the world is not easy. It’s even harder when communications are limited, which can happen for any number of reasons when I’m aboard a warship in the middle of the ocean. The Canadian military has recognized that fact, and has come up with a few initiatives to help keep families in touch while the ship is deployed.

One of these initiatives is called “Books from Afar”. Basically, the sailor (in this case, me) is recorded while reading a children’s book.  This recording is then sent to our base’s Military Family Resource Centre, where my kids will be recorded as they watch my video.  Additionally, they will have a copy of the book, so they can read along with me.  Books on the “official list” have copies on the ship as well as at the MFRC.

I, however, decided to play by slightly different rules.  Instead of using the ship-provided books, which are the same ones everyone else gets to read, I bought two books while I was in Australia.  Neither of these books is on the ship’s list, because both of them are local Australian books.  For my son, I got Little Devils, a book about two Tasmanain devil twins who may be crazy but they save the day.  For my daughter, The Tale of Kaz Kangaroo, a story from the kangaroo’s point of view when the European settlers first came to Australia.

This isn’t the same as being in the same room as my kids, being able to hold them and talk to them directly.  It’s not even the same as talking on the webcam, where we can interact even if in a limited format.  But it is something that the military has done, within the limitations of the service and the situations that we are in, to allow at least some degree of contact between deployed members and our families at home.