Today I was amazed at the empathy and kindness that my 4yo shows me.

I am a military spouse living in on base housing with my husband(active duty army) and my two boys - 4.5yo and 3yo. I’m not sure if other non military people are aware, but military housing is the worst it’s been in decades and this past year it was brought to the US governments attention of how neglected these houses are. Lead based paint, mold, and other safety issues affect most of the houses and our base is one of the worst. I have in the last few months become my neighborhood representative to assist in bringing housing issues to the garrison commander to keep housing accountable and were finally starting to see some changes happen on our base.This past three years has been crazy for me. First my husband had to go to a four month school, then was immediately shipped off overseas for a 1 year hardship tour. When he came back we immediately had to move bases and then he was shipped off to another school and left me to unpack our home. Then they put him on 14 hour night shifts for 7 months straight. When they did switch him to day shifts he started working 16 hour days. Up at 4am and not home until 9pm kind of days. Just in the last 6 months my grandpa died, followed 6 weeks later by his wife my grandma. Then on the day I reported the mold in my home I had to put our very loved family dog to sleep as she suddenly developed cancer. She was only 6. My husband just left on Monday to go to yet another 6 week school where they let him know that since they were giving him a meal card they were turning off our food allowance. $450 that we use to feed our family. Gone. (Technically they are in the right because BAS pay is only for the soldier).I reported the mold in my home 5 weeks ago. I fought the privatized housing company tooth and nail to get someone in my house to take care of it. And after four weeks of begging they finally started work on the mold that’s in all three of my bathrooms. Today the workers didn’t show up to start putting my bathroom back together. I called my housing company and he didn’t even answer my call. Finally 2.5 hours late they show up, apologetic about the whole miscommunication. I’ll admit I let them know how frustrated I was. But 5 weeks of living in a mold infested house and then a construction zone will do that to you.Once they left. Everything caught up to me and I cried. Sitting on the couch next to my children I cried my heart out for my situation and for the other military families like mine who are dealing with mold in their homes. No choice to move every two years and living in an area where living off post isn’t an option.My 4 year old, who was sitting on the couch eating from a bowl of popcorn, suddenly crawled into my lap and held my face between his tiny hands. He kissed my cheek and asked me if I was sad. I said yes and that I missed daddy. He told me that he missed daddy too. But his job told him he had to go on an airplane. But he’ll come back when I get new hair(?). He took a piece of popcorn and told me that it was a love popcorn and he broke it in half. He gave me one half and told me to eat it. Then he ate his half. He looked at me in the eyes and said “I will protect the house now”.He sat in my lap for a few minutes letting me love on him and he pat my head in response. Then he asked if he could have some juice. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2WgOy5R