Kentucky Military-Extension Adventure Camp Initiative

This project addresses the theme of “outdoor adventure for family reconnection” by bringing military parents and their teenage children together for fun and engaging experiential learning opportunities that advance the life skills of self-responsibility, decision making, resiliency, cooperation, responsible citizenship, and problem solving. The active deployment and post-deployment stages can be times of great joy, pride, and family cohesiveness, but they can also be times of great stress and disorganization. While a parent is deployed, the rest of the family must make sacrifices and work together as a team to fill in the gaps. As service members return from deployment, they must reintegrate into family life. The family must renegotiate roles and responsibilities throughout both stages, often repeatedly due to multiple deployments. Family members change during the separations, and this can be especially true of teens. Everyone must work together to establish a “new normal.” However, if support is available and deployments and reintegrations are handled in a healthy manner, they can be a time for parents and their children to connect on new and deeper levels. It was revealed through 2011 and 2012 camp evaluation data from Kentucky Military-Extension Adventure Camps that participants found the time together with their children, interacting with fellow service members and their kids, sharing stores, and having camaraderie were especially important and meaningful.