Childcare is taking on a higher profile in the British military, providing security for young children whose parents are frequently away. Annette Rawstrone reports
Life can be anything but regimented for the children of parents serving in the military. But nurseries and pre-schools are playing an important role in helping to bring stability and support.
The children of service personnel can be faced with a parents' long absence if they are sent to work elsewhere or an unsettling move as parents are posted to another area or country.
'Attending pre-school gives the children continuity in their lives,' says Sue Wood, pre-school supervisor at Clocktower House Pre-school in Aldershot, Hampshire, where 90 per cent of the children attending come from a military background.
Families tend to be posted to the area for two to three years and in that time, military personnel may be sent on short tours of duty. 'We frequently talk to the children about how they are feeling and explain that, whether it's a move or a parent is away, things will be different but reassure them that everything will be OK. We don't like to dwell on these things, though, because we feel the children are at pre-school so that they can play and that it is a calm place where they can escape the upheaval.'
Lucy Price, managing director of HMS Collingwood Nursery in Fareham, Hampshire, a 70-place nursery on a naval base, says they aim to make it as normal a nursery environment as possible. 'We are still inspected by Ofsted and work to the national standards,' she says. 'But one difference is that at any one time, anything from 20 to 80 per cent of parents can be away.'
A disadvantage of the nursery being on the base is that for security reasons, children are not allowed to be taken out on visits. But there is the plus that everyone entering the building is security-checked.
There are also perks that come with the location - there are always a lot of people on hand to participate in the nursery's 'people who help us' projects. Clocktower House Pre-school has recently had a visit from the Royal Military Police, who thrilled the children by bringing along a police car.
'We do have lots of visitors, which makes it exciting,' says Sue. 'Many of the people on the base really make time for us and will do anything at the drop of a hat. One of the dads is a medic, so an army ambulance came along and the children were allowed to see inside. They really enjoyed bandaging their teddies up.'
Women in uniform
The importance of providing childcare is now being acknowledged by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), particularly because the number of women in military service is increasing. In 1997 around 15,000 women were serving in the forces and that has now increased to more than 17,000.
In December 2000 the MOD set up a Childcare Advisory Unit to advise and support civil service families. The unit can give advice on getting funding and the MOD will help to find space for nurseries to be set up and can provide services such as heating and lighting. So far 12 nurseries have been established with the unit's assistance.
Executive officer for the unit, Steve Coote, says, 'There is a feeling in the ministry that childcare is rising up the agenda, and we need more childcare to be in place in order to retain women who work in the services. There is a move away from the hard-nosed approach as women are playing an increasing role in the military services.'
The childcare needs of families of the three services - army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force - are overseen by the tri-service early years advisor who is based at Headquarters Land Command near Salisbury. This post co-ordinates service childcare in Britain and on bases overseas.
Moving on
In the past, pre-schools and nurseries have been developed on bases on the initiative of the families needing them. Because of this it is not unusual for the childcarers to be forces wives and mothers themselves. This is the case for all the staff at Clocktower House Pre-school. Sue Wood believes it helps them to be more understanding of the situations parents face and to empathise with the children.
'We understand how the parents and children are feeling because we have been there ourselves, so we often know how to deal with situations when they arise. The children get particularly unsettled when it is time for them to move home because they see everything being packed up. They do find it exciting, but it's also an apprehensive time because they are leaving friends behind and, of course, the parents are often stressed and the children sense that,' she says.
'We help prepare children for a move by doing activities like role play, cutting out pictures of lorries and discussing what we could pack in them, and talking about where they will be moving and visualising how they would like to have their new bedroom decorated.'
The pre-school has a map of the world which is used by children when their parents are away. They push a flag bearing their name into the country where their parent is based so they can easily locate where they are.
Coping strategies
Sue has found that overall the children are incredibly resilient and cope well with their parent's absences. But she did care for one child who was upset by images he had seen on television.
'As a four-year-old he was very aware of world events and knew where his dad was, which caused concern. His mum explained the situation to us and we were able to reason with him and help him when he wanted to send a picture to his dad. After a few days and some quiet chats together he was a lot calmer,' she says.
Most of the 105 children at RAF Coningsbury Nursery Centre in Lincolnshire have parents in the air force and 20 to 30 children might have a parent absent at any one time. To ease the upset, staff help the children write and post letters so they can maintain contact. When they do artwork an extra one is often sent to the parent who is away.
HMS Collingwood Nursery does a lot of work with children whose parents are about to go away so they can be prepared for their departure. Lucy Price has found that those over the age of two tend to be most affected. They can display more challenging behaviour or become tearful and clingy.
'The children do often get extremely upset when their parents go, and sometimes also when they return because it is a big upheaval for a small child to experience. They get used to the parent being away and then suddenly they are back in the family,' Lucy says.
Nursery staff reassure the children, give them a lot of attention, especially if the child seems withdrawn, and have found that it helps to share story books where the characters are in similar situations.
Last year was a particularly tense time for the nursery because several fathers were away in Bosnia. Many of the children gauged how long it would be until their dads returned by counting the number of 'sleeps'.
Nursery staff have found that children sometimes become afraid when they are brought to nursery with two parents but picked up by only one. 'The children tend to associate going to nursery with losing their parent, so we try to prevent this - for example, in extreme cases we let the child phone their parent at work to make sure they are still there. And of course we give them lots of cuddles and love,' says Lucy.
Supporting parents
Along with reassuring the children, the childcarers play an important role in supporting the parents. HMS Collingwood Nursery has an open- door policy so parents can chat to staff about any worries.
'It can be very hard on the person who is left, but it is also difficult for the absent parent,' says Lucy. 'We provide a lot of artwork for the children to send them and we take photographs to be used within the nursery and put in children's development files. The files are updated regularly and parents are welcome to view them to catch up with what their child has been doing.'
Quite often there will be more than one parent on the same posting. In these cases the nursery puts families in touch with each other.
Through the stability and reassurance that children gain from their parents and childcarers working together it is hoped that their experiences will have a positive effect on their lives and lead to greater confidence, ability to cope with change and good social skills.
