thedrifter
02-07-06, 06:43 AM
Deploying Video on the Home Front
Craig Morton's children gather nightly for their father's bedtime story, recorded in the Persian Gulf through a program for military families.
By Lisa Richardson, Times Staff Writer
Five-year-old Dena Morton, dainty, serious and shy as a fawn, speaks in a whisper to strangers. It is her big brother Dane, 11, who does the talking, while 2-year-old Damon plays peek-a-boo. Dane explains how difficult it is for them to have their father gone.
Their father, Craig Morton, is a career Navy engineer who has been stationed in the Persian Gulf for seven months. Their most regular contact with him lately has been through nightly television appearances: Before they go to sleep each evening, their mother, Kim, pops in a video of their father reading a book to them.
Each member of the family seems to get something a little different from the bedtime reading sessions.
For Dane, they are a mixed blessing. The videos offer comfort, but images of the father he can't reach also make him wistful. "I really don't like to talk about my father that much because then I miss him even more," he said.
Little Damon, however, loves the tapes of Thomas the Tank Engine stories, and Dena likes the girlie books — especially if they involve princesses.
The Morton family of San Diego is among 35,000 military families participating in a program that provides books and equipment for deployed personnel to videotape themselves reading to their children.
Service members often send the books they read on videotape back home so the children can follow along. The parent at home then videotapes the children watching and sends it back to the ship for the spouse to see.
Called United Through Reading, a project of the San Diego-based Family Literacy Foundation, the videotape program was started by Betty Mohlenbrock during the first Gulf War. Working mostly with the Navy and the Marines, the foundation trains deploying personnel and volunteers at home to manage the program while ships are underway. A grant from Target Corp. will allow the program to expand to the other military branches.
Morton, 38, has read dozens of books on video for his children. It must be said that he is not exactly a natural performer in front of the camera. His children, particularly Dane, find as much humor in his occasional slip-ups as they get enjoyment from the stories. Dane has memorized the spots where a word gets twisted and fast-forwards to them with glee.
"Watch this, he's going to make a mistake right … here," he said, grinning, showing an example.
The siblings also get a kick out of watching Morton attempt to sing when it's called for in a story. Thousands of miles away on his ship, Morton seems to anticipate this and pauses after one attempt to say, "OK, Daddy's not such a good singer."
Making the videos is a little awkward, Morton e-mailed from aboard, but they add an element of normality to his children's lives because he reads to them nightly when home.
"I am not that social, and talking to a camera seems weird — especially because normally there are people working in the space we record in, behind the scenes," he wrote. "Kim has told me the kids love watching the videos, so it makes me feel good to do something that is helping her at home."
Mohlenbrock, a former teacher, started the program to knit literacy with family bonding.
"Reading aloud to children is the single best predictor of their future success of their reading when they get to school," Mohlenbrock said. "In our culture there are so many obstacles — more people are working, television, video games and a lot of adult illiteracy. One of the big obstacles is military deployment."
She speaks from personal experience. When she was a child, Mohlenbrock's father was gone for two years during World War II. Her husband, a Navy doctor, was deployed during the Vietnam War.
"Our daughter was 2, and upon his return, she did not recognize him," Mohlenbrock said.
Damon has no trouble recognizing his father, Kim Morton said. The first time Damon saw one of the videos, he rushed to the television shouting, "That's my daddy, that's my daddy! Hi, Daddy, I'm here!" He was baffled by the lack of response, Kim said. The family had done a video teleconference with Morton for which he was on a television screen, and Damon did not understand the difference between that and the videotape.
"It's hard, it's very hard having him away," Kim Morton said.
Suddenly Dena breaks her silence to announce: "My dad calls her 'Snugglebunny.' "
Kim blushes. "Yes, thank you, Dena. Why don't you watch the video, hmmm?"
The couple met Dec. 21, 1990, when she was working in the cosmetics department at JCPenney and he was shopping for his mother. They were married in October 1991, and he was deployed to the Persian Gulf three weeks later.
"It stunk. It was like, OK, I'm married, but I had no spouse," she said.
Craig's second deployment came in 1992, and his wife learned two weeks after he left that she was pregnant. Since then she has become used to military life and is as much a supporter of the Navy as her husband.
"Kim, she is my beautiful, lovely wife, always supportive of me, great to the kids," Morton wrote about her. "She's had to move our home at least three times without me. Dealing with everything alone. I love her very much."
The Mortons have two jars of marbles at home, and at night the children shift a marble from one jar to the other to show the dwindling number of days until their dad comes home. Dane rushes to get them and everyone smiles as he holds up the jars. Dena gives a little skip. If all goes well, Craig Morton will be back soon, maybe before spring.
"It's definitely looking better now," Kim Morton said.
On the television, her husband is reading the Thomas the Tank Engine book for Damon, and she notes that although the videos are for the children, they help her too: "For me it's nice to just have his voice in the house."
Craig Morton's children gather nightly for their father's bedtime story, recorded in the Persian Gulf through a program for military families.
By Lisa Richardson, Times Staff Writer
Five-year-old Dena Morton, dainty, serious and shy as a fawn, speaks in a whisper to strangers. It is her big brother Dane, 11, who does the talking, while 2-year-old Damon plays peek-a-boo. Dane explains how difficult it is for them to have their father gone.
Their father, Craig Morton, is a career Navy engineer who has been stationed in the Persian Gulf for seven months. Their most regular contact with him lately has been through nightly television appearances: Before they go to sleep each evening, their mother, Kim, pops in a video of their father reading a book to them.
Each member of the family seems to get something a little different from the bedtime reading sessions.
For Dane, they are a mixed blessing. The videos offer comfort, but images of the father he can't reach also make him wistful. "I really don't like to talk about my father that much because then I miss him even more," he said.
Little Damon, however, loves the tapes of Thomas the Tank Engine stories, and Dena likes the girlie books — especially if they involve princesses.
The Morton family of San Diego is among 35,000 military families participating in a program that provides books and equipment for deployed personnel to videotape themselves reading to their children.
Service members often send the books they read on videotape back home so the children can follow along. The parent at home then videotapes the children watching and sends it back to the ship for the spouse to see.
Called United Through Reading, a project of the San Diego-based Family Literacy Foundation, the videotape program was started by Betty Mohlenbrock during the first Gulf War. Working mostly with the Navy and the Marines, the foundation trains deploying personnel and volunteers at home to manage the program while ships are underway. A grant from Target Corp. will allow the program to expand to the other military branches.
Morton, 38, has read dozens of books on video for his children. It must be said that he is not exactly a natural performer in front of the camera. His children, particularly Dane, find as much humor in his occasional slip-ups as they get enjoyment from the stories. Dane has memorized the spots where a word gets twisted and fast-forwards to them with glee.
"Watch this, he's going to make a mistake right … here," he said, grinning, showing an example.
The siblings also get a kick out of watching Morton attempt to sing when it's called for in a story. Thousands of miles away on his ship, Morton seems to anticipate this and pauses after one attempt to say, "OK, Daddy's not such a good singer."
Making the videos is a little awkward, Morton e-mailed from aboard, but they add an element of normality to his children's lives because he reads to them nightly when home.
"I am not that social, and talking to a camera seems weird — especially because normally there are people working in the space we record in, behind the scenes," he wrote. "Kim has told me the kids love watching the videos, so it makes me feel good to do something that is helping her at home."
Mohlenbrock, a former teacher, started the program to knit literacy with family bonding.
"Reading aloud to children is the single best predictor of their future success of their reading when they get to school," Mohlenbrock said. "In our culture there are so many obstacles — more people are working, television, video games and a lot of adult illiteracy. One of the big obstacles is military deployment."
She speaks from personal experience. When she was a child, Mohlenbrock's father was gone for two years during World War II. Her husband, a Navy doctor, was deployed during the Vietnam War.
"Our daughter was 2, and upon his return, she did not recognize him," Mohlenbrock said.
Damon has no trouble recognizing his father, Kim Morton said. The first time Damon saw one of the videos, he rushed to the television shouting, "That's my daddy, that's my daddy! Hi, Daddy, I'm here!" He was baffled by the lack of response, Kim said. The family had done a video teleconference with Morton for which he was on a television screen, and Damon did not understand the difference between that and the videotape.
"It's hard, it's very hard having him away," Kim Morton said.
Suddenly Dena breaks her silence to announce: "My dad calls her 'Snugglebunny.' "
Kim blushes. "Yes, thank you, Dena. Why don't you watch the video, hmmm?"
The couple met Dec. 21, 1990, when she was working in the cosmetics department at JCPenney and he was shopping for his mother. They were married in October 1991, and he was deployed to the Persian Gulf three weeks later.
"It stunk. It was like, OK, I'm married, but I had no spouse," she said.
Craig's second deployment came in 1992, and his wife learned two weeks after he left that she was pregnant. Since then she has become used to military life and is as much a supporter of the Navy as her husband.
"Kim, she is my beautiful, lovely wife, always supportive of me, great to the kids," Morton wrote about her. "She's had to move our home at least three times without me. Dealing with everything alone. I love her very much."
The Mortons have two jars of marbles at home, and at night the children shift a marble from one jar to the other to show the dwindling number of days until their dad comes home. Dane rushes to get them and everyone smiles as he holds up the jars. Dena gives a little skip. If all goes well, Craig Morton will be back soon, maybe before spring.
"It's definitely looking better now," Kim Morton said.
On the television, her husband is reading the Thomas the Tank Engine book for Damon, and she notes that although the videos are for the children, they help her too: "For me it's nice to just have his voice in the house."