Military deployment is considered a stressful period for families (Palmer, 2008), typically lasting three to nine months for Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel. To date, insufficient research has been conducted concerning children who experience deployment (Siebler, 2015). This study seeks to provide valuable insights into young children's understandings and experiences of their parents' military deployment in an Australian context. An adapted research framework, based on the policies from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNICEF, 2015) and Clark and Moss (2011), has been created to listen to and privilege the often marginalised child's voice. Employing a qualitative research approach known as Mosaic research, multiple methods of data collection are combined to gather various insights into children's experiences. Embracing an interpretivist epistemology, the researcher aims to create shared knowledges of children's understandings and experiences, progressively building insights into the child's experience and inviting discussions to take place about their experiences. The study found that young children's experiences of parental deployment included stressors, responses, adaptations and protective factors. Another major finding was that children's understandings of parental deployment were often underestimated by parents. Children's understandings were strongly influenced by time, place, acculturation, narrative, digital technology, cognitive development, adult reinforcement and the use of age and culturally appropriate resources. The central goal of Mosaic research 'is not to make children's knowledge unquestionable, but to raise it to such a level that children's knowledge about their lives is central to adult discussions' (Clark & Moss, 2011, p. 65). Such knowledge about children's understandings and experiences of deployment can inform effective support strategies for parents, educators and professionals who work with these children in the ADF and wider community.

Young children are able to express their experiences, understandings and thoughts by communicating through the use of the creative arts media with which they are comfortable and confident. My PhD study employed a qualitative Mosaic approach, so I was able to witness the way creative arts empowered children to make their often marginalised voices heard by: parents, educators, other researchers and policy makers. The study involved children aged two to five years within a long daycare service who were research participants and who became researchers themselves. A range of creative arts responses provided ways for children to: explore their experiences at home, express feelings about these events, share their desires for different experiences and create solutions for better outcomes. Children were also able to discuss each other's art responses and some were able to validate research themes. As researchers, using disposable cameras, the children were able to record happenings in their lives that were important as well as personal and cultural artifacts that had special meaning within the research themes. Parents were able to photograph the children guided by the children's instructions, so in effect, they directed data collection. The study presented ethical moments that required researcher reflexivity, including: ownership of data, educator involvement, management of activities and data collection. The study promoted an increase in the abilities of the children to verbally express emotional issues that were affecting them.

It's not always possible for families to be together during the Christmas holidays if one parent is working away for several days. They could be on a tour of duty for the Australian Defence Force or in a fly-in, fly-out mining position.
Other jobs, such as those in long-distance transport, firefighting, seasonal agriculture and other occupations, can also regularly take a parent away from home.
Such types of work can be challenging for those seeking a good work-life balance. The parent who works away misses out on time with family, which can be especially difficult with younger children.

'Now that I am big: Anthony's story' explores the experiences of five-year-old Anthony, whose father periodically leaves the family household for military deployment and training with the Australian Defence Force. The storybook covers themes of emotional responses to parental deployment and post-deployment, tools and stories that assist children to understand the concepts of deployment and family communication. This is a research-based storybook for young children, with research information in the back for parents, educators and family workers. It was produced from research data and findings as part of a PhD study entitled 'Young children's experiences and understandings of parental deployment within an Australian Defence Force family'. The eBook is available free to parents, children, educators and family workers in partnership with the Defence Community Organisation and the Department of Defence in the hope to make research accessible to the public and create impact from research.

This digital app was based on some of the findings from the author's PhD thesis entitled 'Young children's understandings and experiences of parental deployment within an Australian Defence Force family' which used the Mosaic Approach (participatory) research to capture the voice of 2-5 year olds in military families in Australia. It contains research-based information in the back pages for parents, educators and family workers. The narrative follows the experiences of two-year-old Rose's family, as they experience various stages of a parent leaving to work away from home for many months. The activities encourage children and families to use practical ways to keep strong connections to the deployed parent and support siblings and the parent at home. It can also be utilised to build empathy of the children's peers and within the general community.

This book is the first in a series to be published in relation to research about the experiences of military families being undertaken by researchers at the University of New England, NSW This research was initially prompted when Madeline Fussell, a Primary Social Science Lecturer, was approached by military families who expressed their frustration at the lack of culturally authentic and age-appropriate illustrated storybooks for their young children. They asked for books that supported the experiences of young children who had a parent deploying or absent for extended periods during training. They identified common related issues encountered by military families. Teaming up with Marg Baber, an Early Childhood Lecturer, they met with two military families and discussed some of these issues. This resulted in several research-based illustrated storybooks being written as a community project for the charity organisation, Soldier On. Further background research revealed there was almost no Australian and little international research working directly with young children to explore their experiences and understandings of their lives in military families; nor was there research that allowed young military children's voices to be heard. Marg's research aims to address this gap. Her doctoral thesis is titled 'Young children's experiences and understanding of military deployment within an Australian Defence Force family'.

Engagement in media arts and digital technology can contribute to the development of young children's working theories, stories and understandings of their world. Children in many Australian families experience frequent and stressful transitions as parents work away in roles in mining, transport and military occupations. Research has shown a lack of resources for young children, their parents, educators and family workers to support these children, especially for those in defence force families. We use Sims' (2011) rights-based framework, adapted from Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs, as a framework to identify how these experiences impact on children. In particular we argue this lifestyle undermines children's rights "to love, affection, care, attention, closeness to another person" and their rights "to feel valued and worthy, to be valued by others, to be accepted, appreciated and have status" (Sims, 2011, p. 123) from the parent who is away. Previous research has revealed parents and educators of young children feel unsupported due to the lack of age and culturally appropriate early childhood resources to assist their children. Defence families being 'absent' in early childhood (EC) storybooks, apps and eBooks makes it difficult for the children and families to normalise their experiences, connect with characters in an emotionally safe way, thereby building capacity for emotional resilience and belonging within the community. This paper focuses on how the media arts were used to transform an eStorybook from research data into a digital app. The project aimed to improve children's skills in the media arts, enhancing their understandings of cultural and family narratives within their cultural group and providing much needed age and culturally appropriate resources.

Narratives are a powerful tool for transferring knowledge and culture. They have a profound effect on our psyche and our attitudes to messages and teachings. The transfer of information through traditional teaching and lectures is often less effective in changing a belief or understanding than using narrative. In this discussion paper, I explore this phenomenon and examine the persuasive effect of cultural narratives. The discussion also considers the impacts of cultural narrative as an educative tool on parental attitudes towards childhood immunisation. I explore the changing nature of the way parents with young children communicate and seek information and early childhood educators’ roles in their lives within the Australian context. Understanding the way humans are drawn to narrative may be beneficial to health workers, early childhood educators, family workers and those who plan health education programmes. To effectively target their messages, it would be of benefit to public health officials to have knowledge about how parents with young children inform themselves and develop health beliefs, and the extent to which parents’ ideas become fixed.

Military deployment is typically considered a stressful period for families, generally lasting between 3 to 6 months for Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel. To date, insufficient research has been conducted concerning children and families who experience deployment within an Australian context. This study seeks to provide valuable insight into families with young children and explore their experiences of military deployment in an Australian context. Using a socio-constructivist approach, where truth is socially constructed both individually and culturally, ADF parents' perceptions of their experiences are examined. Using Narrative Research, multiple methods of data collection are combined to gather various insights into families' experiences. Data analysis was conducted using thematic verification identifying two main themes. Embracing an interpretivist epistemology, the researcher aims to create a shared knowledge around families' understanding and experiences of deployment. Such knowledge will be helpful for effective support of parents, educators and professionals in their role with these children in the community.

'Waiting for Daddy: Rose's story' explores the experiences of a two-year-old, Rose, whose father leaves for military deployment with the Australian Defence Force. The storybook covers themes of physical and emotional responses to parental separation, barriers to understanding the concepts of deployment, support for the family and communication. This is a research-based storybook for young children, with research information in the back for parents, educators and family workers. It was produced from research data and findings as part of a PhD study entitled 'Young children's experiences and understandings of parental deployment within an Australian Defence Force family'. The eBook is available free to parents, children, educators and family workers in partnership with the Defence Community Organisation and the Department of Defence in the hope to make research accessible to the public and create impact from research.