Son, A Soldier's Work Is Never Done

About the Book

Son, a Soldier's Work Is Never Done

By Kathy Barnes, Ph.D. and Smith McGarr

Helps children and parents talk about feelings when a military dad or mom goes to war.

“Sealing feelings harms, not helps”

War is scary. It can swallow up soldiers like monsters in books or bad dreams do.

Seven-year-old Jackie knows because he heard it on the news. “The U.S. Military has lost 2,050 men in Iraq and the number is rising daily.” This worries him because his dad is fighting in the Third Brigade in Iraq.

When he and his dad hug good-bye at the army base, each promises to be brave and carry out his duty. Jackie’s duty is to help his mom at home for ten long months. He finds this hard when taking care of his two younger sisters. “I’ve broken Dad’s rules. I've called Sarah ‘stupid’ when she won’t leave me alone. I've pinched little Allie when she chewed Samson’s bone.” He also shares his triumphs. “...I’ve worked pretty hard. I’ve washed the car and raked the yard.”

Jackie shares that he feels sad a lot. He hesitates telling his mom, because he doesn’t want to be a coward. When he finally tells her, she says it is okay to feel sad. She does too.

Our readers will quickly finish the book to see if Jackie’s dad comes home. They will re-read it again and again because it’s their story too.

Praise for Son, a Soldier's Work Is Never Done.

“This book is a great tool for helping children understand war. Whether they are military or not, all kids hear about war on the news, radio, television, and from neighborhood and school friends. War scares them and they need to talk about it.” – Maria Edwards, executive vice president of the military writer’s Society of America

About the Author

About the Authors

Our two authors have the credentials and personal experience to write this book. Kathy Barnes, Ph.D., whose son served as a captain in the JAG Corps in Iraq, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a pastoral counselor. She was also an adjunct faculty member of the University of Georgia. She is a listener and encourager for her daughter-in-law, Jody, and her three-year-old granddaughter, Cora, when her son was gone. She leads a military family support group and believes that children and their parents need to talk about feeling scared, mad, and sad when their dad or mom is serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Kathy has published two books on exceptional children and their families and has worked as a family counselor for seventeen years.

“Sealing feelings harms, not helps.”

Smith McGarr, Kathy’s seven-year-old grandson, got scared when his favorite and only uncle, Captain Ed Berg, was deployed to Iraq. Since Smith writes stories, reads scary books, and plays with pretend swords and guns, he was both excited and worried. At the same time his uncle left, his dad started traveling five days a week with a new job. Smith played with him only on weekends. He talked about feeling mad and sad each time his dad hugged him good-bye. “It must be one hundred times worse for Cora and the other kids whose dads and moms are fighting in Iraq.” After many conversations, Kathy and Smith decided to write a book for them and call it Son, a Soldier’s Work Is Never Done.