Military Children’s Month: Monroe family talks of struggles while mom was deployed

West Monroe, La. (KTVE/KARD) — April is national Military Children’s month to show appreciation towards military children and the challenges they face such as moving from place to place and being away from their parent.

A local Monroe family tells us of their struggles when their mother is deployed. Kiara Richards, a single mom of four children who is in the National Guard says there is a lot of anxiety that builds up before she has to leave her children, whether it is for a weekend or six months. Kiara struggles to leave her children for someone else to care for them. Even though Kiara is proud of her contributions and accomplishments while serving, she says that when she leaves, all she can think about is returning home to her children.

One way her and her four children coped was writing letters. Kiara’s daughter, Naomi Richards, says she struggled with her mother’s absence and missed her more than anything. Naomi struggled with writing the letters, but she enjoyed being able to tell her mom about her life back home. “It was kind of different having to write the letters to her and stuff. And it kind of goes from mom to daughter, day-to-day stuff, stuff I did with my grandma, and I missed her a lot.”

When natural disasters would occur, like Covid, their mom’s deployment would be pro-longed up to six months. While Kiara was away, their grandmother would come and stay with them. Naomi and her brothers say that being with their grandmother helped pass the time. They particularly enjoyed their grandmother’s cooking. “Like, whenever she goes off for the weekend, like she’d come over and check on us or, like bring us some stuff from the store or something. And she would come and stay with us those weekends.”

Even though they miss her while she is gone, they support her and are proud of her for accomplishing her dreams. They even encourage her to not give up, which Kiara says, “is the reason she keeps pushing.” They are proud of their mom and say that, “She’s a really good mom.”