How does a parent stay connected with an infant or toddler during a prolonged separation? Research has shown how important early connections are for child development. When a parent is not present physically, there are strategies that military parents have been using to keep a parent and child connected, promoting mindfulness. Because infants and young toddlers are not verbal, it is important to try to use the other senses in promoting strong connections, for example the sense of smell. The use of technology, such as the digital recording of a parent reading to a child used by United Through Reading, as well the use of other social media platforms may help parents keep the connections strong through family separations. Nonmilitary parents may find these strategies helpful when faced with separation from their child because of work, hospitalization, divorce, foster care, or parental incarceration.