The Military Child Well-being Toolkit

The MCEC Military Child Well-being Toolkit has been created to provide accessible social-emotional supports and resources directly to parents, educators, school counselors, administrators, and other youth-serving professionals working with military-connected youth.

RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING: The ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations.

Responsible decision-making impacts every aspect of our lives including our ability to consider ethical standards, safety issues, and evaluate benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being. The goal is to build a strong sense within the decision-making process with confidence. Choices allow for growth opportunities, by minimizing impulsive decisions, reflecting on the natural consequences (social awareness), considering alternate paths to a successful solution, considering personal motivations and being willing to accept responsibility when a course of action needs to be corrected.

Such as:

  • Demonstrate curiosity and open-mindedness
  • Identify solutions for personal and social problems
  • Learn to make a reasoned judgment after analyzing information, data, and facts
  • Anticipate and evaluate the consequences of one’s actions
  • Recognize how critical thinking skills are useful both inside & outside of school
  • Reflect on one’s role to promote personal, family, and community well-being
  • Evaluate personal, interpersonal, community, and institutional impacts
– Frank Outlaw
Parents & Professionals
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Parents of Young Children
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School Leadership
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Cozza, S. J., Knobloch, L. K., Gewirtz, A. H., DeVoe, E. R., Gorman, L. A., Flake, E. M., … & Lerner, R. M. (2018). Lessons learned and future recommendations for conducting research with military children and families. In Hughes- Kirchubel, L., Wadsworth, S., Riggs, D. (eds.), A battle plan for supporting military families (pp. 265-287). Springer, Cham. https://10.1007/978-3-319-68984-5

Doran. (n.d.). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35–36. https://doi.org/info:doi/

Drigas, A. S., & Papoutsi, C. (2018). A new layered model on emotional intelligence. Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 8(5), 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8050045

Goleman D.P. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ for character, health and lifelong achievement. Bantam Books.

Gribble, R., Mahar, A. L., Keeling, M., Sullivan, K., McKeown, S., Burchill, S., … & Castro, C. A. (2020). Are we family? A scoping review of how military families are defined in mental health and substance use research. Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, 6(2), 85-119. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2019-0054

Hughes-Kirchubel, L., Wadsworth, S.M. (2018). Introduction to a battle plan for supporting military families. In Hughes- Kirchubel, L., Wadsworth, S., Riggs, D. (eds.), A battle plan for supporting military families (pp. 1-10). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68984-5_1

Klug, H. J. P., & Maier, G. W. (2015). Linking goal progress and subjective well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Well-Being, 16(1), 37-65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9493-0

Masten, A. S. (2018). Resilience theory and research on children and families: Past, present, and promise. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 10(1), 12-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12255

Masten, A. S. (2021). MULTISYSTEM RESILIENCE: PATHWAYS TO AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK. Research in Human Development, 18(3), 153-163. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2021.1958604 .

Maybery, D. J., Goodyear, M. J., Reupert, A. E., & Harkness, M. K. (2013). Goal setting within family care planning: families with complex needs. The Medical journal of Australia, 199(3), S37–S39. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja11.11179

Mullet, N., Fuss, C., Lyddon, L., Mondloch, D., Neal, S., Nelson Goff, B. S., … & Ruhlmann, L. M. (2021). Finding our new normal: A 10-year follow-up study with US Army veterans and their spouses. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332691.2021.1945986

Office of the Surgeon General (OSG). (2021). Protecting youth mental health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory. US Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK575984/

Pexton, S., Farrants, J., & Yule, W. (2018). The impact of fathers’ military deployment on child adjustment. The support needs of primary school children and their families separated during active military service: A pilot study. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 23(1), 110–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104517724494

Siegel, D. J., & Bryson, P. H. D. T. P. (2012). The whole-brain child. Random House. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/camh.12053_6

Sigelman, C. K., Friedman, S. L., & Kildon, J. (2019). Communication, context, and well-being among military couples. Military Behavioral Health, 7(4), 363-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2019.1646173

Sullivan, R. M., Cozza, S. J., & Dougherty, J. G. (2019). Children of military families. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 28(3), 337–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2019.02.004

Theiss, J. A. (2018). Family communication and resilience. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 46(1), 10-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2018.1426706

Disclosure Statement: These tools are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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