Deployment: 3 Tips to Stay Sane While He's Gone!

One of the hardest parts of a deployment for me is having to act like a single mother for months at a time. This can become very difficult. You have to be both Mom and Dad and that is just exhausting. There are a few things I have done every deployment to help me get through it.

1) Stricter bedtimes. I usually come up with an early time to put the kids to bed when my husband is gone. I need that alone time each night. I will take an earlier morning just to get more alone time at night.

2) Plans with friends. This is so important. I had to make a lot of plans with other moms. The best plans were to meet up at a park. The moms could talk, the kids could play...it is perfect. Houses work well for this too.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to have fun and stay busy.

3) Give myself a break- There are certain ideals I had about parenting that I had to drop once my husband started going places for long periods of time.

There are just certain things that are so much harder when you are the only parent around. But I had to give myself a break. Things are not going to look the way they do when my husband is home. I had to accept that.

Most of all I would always remember that this time apart is just a season. That my husband would return and we would be a whole family again. That is hard to remember on those dark deployment days, but it is something to always keep in mind. It is just a season...

Don't miss the "Army Wives" Season 6 premiere Sunday, March 4 at 9 pm/8c!