(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Deployment can be heart-wrenching for all military families, but especially for those with children. One Southern Colorado family turned this difficult time into a small business to support other kids going through the same thing.
Southern Colorado is home to both Army and Air Force bases and every year, families face the challenge of having one or more parental guardians deployed in the military. As one parent tries to take on both parenting roles and cope with not having a partner for a long stretch of time, the kids have their own stress issues.
Healthy Children from the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that toddlers may not understand why mom or dad isn’t there for bedtime, or that school-aged children may worry mom and dad will be hurt. The health organization said teenagers dealing with the usual adolescent issues may experience anger that mom or dad had to leave in the first place, along with new household responsibilities.
Brantley (left) and Caiden (right) created a small business with customized crafts that help create excitement and distraction from long deployments.
This became a reality for one Colorado Springs family when Shane Slone was deployed for nine months in 2022. Megan, Shane’s wife, said it was hard for the entire family, but more so for her son Brantley.
“What some don’t know is Brantley struggled pretty bad, he spoke with a counselor at school often,” Megan Slone explained. “Brantley developed a verbal tic, that has since resolved, and often stayed to himself during recess and cried.”
Brantley loved creating crafts and squeezing his pocket hug, which served to distract him while his father was gone. The Slone family realized that other families might flourish from customized crafts and pocket hugs that help create excitement and distraction from long deployments.
“One evening Brantley asked me, ‘Do you think other kids are as sad as me and miss their mom or dad like I miss my dad?’ I told him of course,” Slone said. “He proceeded to say, ‘They should get a pocket hug and an army bear like me to not be so sad.”
With help from Mom and Dad, Brantley has developed boxes with crafts, a bear, and a pocket hug to help children feel better while their loved one is deployed. The family took it one step further and created the small business, Brantely’s Bears, Deployment Crafts for Kids.
Is your loved one deployed? These deployment crafts help kids turn fear and resentment into a fun and exciting activity.
“Most know that Brantley is extremely empathic and channeled that into this amazing project,” Slone explained. “Caiden, Brantley’s best friend and cousin, has also helped in this journey and deeply missed his uncle while he was away.
The business was created as a way to help kids turn fear and resentment into a fun and exciting activity. A complete Kid’s Craft Box costs $19.99 and is available along with several other items on Brantley’s website. A donation link has been added to the website to support the cause. All proceeds will go towards donation boxes for kids with deployed parents/loved ones. Brantley’s Bears will also have nomination opportunities each month, where the public can nominate a special kid.
