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April is Month of the Military Child

Recognize and support military children and their families all month long

The Month of the Military Child is celebrated every April to honor the special sacrifices made by military children. This year’s theme, Taking Care of Our Military Children, will focus on uplifting the many programs and support services available to help military children, youth, teens, and their families thrive. Each year, DoD joins national, state, and local schools & organizations to celebrate military children with special events that showcase the importance of providing children with quality services and support to help them succeed.

As part of the month-long celebration, communities worldwide are invited to take part in special events and activities to show support and thank military children for their strength and sacrifices. Ways you can get involved include:

  • Wear purple. Promote Purple Up Day on April 3, 2023, and show your appreciation for our extraordinary MilKids.
  • Provide a website feature. Programs can promote the Month of the Military Child on their websites. Provide links to sites that offer resources for military families.
  • Check out the wealth of resources available to military children and parents. Invite your network to explore and share the podcasts, webinars, and other resources available to military-connected children, youth and teens — and their parents.
  • Spread the word about the MilKid appreciation items. Throughout the month of April, items will be offered to families free of charge including Pop Its, lunch boxes, backpack pins and sticker sheets.
  • Download the social media toolkit. Use our sample social media posts to share content on your social channels to help us amplify efforts and resources to support military youth and attach our signature block with this year’s emblem to your emails to show your support.

For more information on these activities and for additional resources, please visit: