When Mom or Dad Goes to War

When Mom or Dad Goes to War

How do children of soldiers cope? A special presentation from CFB Petawawa, near Ottawa.

Join us online at tvoparents.com on
Tuesday November 11 at 9:00 PM ET

What is it like to lose a spouse in combat?
How do children feel when a parent goes to war?
How does deployment affect a child's learning?
What happens when a soldier returns home?

Special Feature

When Charmaine Tedford's cell phone rang - she knew. Something had gone wrong. And it was serious. Soon she was heading back to the house to tell her children that their father, Sgt. Darcy Tedford, had been shot in Afghanistan. She wrote this piece to explain what it felt like from the inside.

This photograph of Charmaine and her family
was the last photo they had taken together.

When Mom or Dad Go To War was filmed at CFB Petawawa. It's going live to the internet net on Remembrance Day at 9 p.m. ET and then will air on TVO the following Sunday at 6 p.m.

The internet show is viewable anywhere in the world. Viewers can go to www.tvoparents.com/yourvoice to watch on Tuesday or afterward in archives. We’re hoping you can help get the word out to people to watch the show.

A Veteran - whether active duty, retired or reserve - is someone who at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The Country of Canada', for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'

Author unknown

Topic: What happens when a parent goes to war?

Our soldiers aren't just peacekeepers anymore. They've been fighting a war in Afghanistan. And they've been dying. The levels of stress on the kids they leave behind are going through the roof as the death toll rises. It's been called a mental health crisis. Have you ever thought about it - the pressure on these families? Have you ever wondered how you'd cope?

Next Tuesday on Remembrance Day - think about the kids left behind as their parents go to the front lines. Come here to tvoparents.com and listen to three parents directly affected by the war in Afghanistan, even though they live 10,000 kilometres away, at CFB Petawawa, just north of Ottawa.

And let us know what you think

Topic: The new veterans

While we were shooting our special for Remembrance Day up at CFB Petawawa, one of the mental health clinicians told me something that shocked me...

10 years ago, the average age of a veteran of the Canadian military was 72 years old.

Now it's 39.

That changes everything for veterans - and has huge implications for the help they need to re-integrate into their families.

If you've been affected by this new trend - tell us how...and share how you've gotten through it...and is there enough services out there?

Special Guests

As a former military spouse and mother of two teenagers, Michelle has an extensive knowledge of the strengths and challenges facing today’s military families. Michelle has spent the majority of the past 26 years living and working within a military community and has personally experienced the impact of deployments on children and the family. Her work within the field of social services includes experience as an emergency support worker to military families living in Europe, as an Early Childhood Educator in a variety of licensed childcare settings, as a Community College Educator, and more recently as a children's mental health counselor. She is currently employed at the Petawawa Military Family Resource Centre as the Coordinator of the Children’s Deployment Support Program. Her work in supporting children and families who have a member deployed involves the development and facilitation of peer support groups, resource support and outreach to children and their families, resource support to educators and school support staff, and the provision of critical incident response services.

Veletia Richards

Veletia is a teacher at Pinecrest Public School. She's been at the school right on the CFB Petawawa base for 13 years. Last year her own husband was deployed to Afghanistan for 7 months. She and her two girls learned the lessons of separation and anxiety that deployment means. And she was able to relate to all her students who go through the same thing.

Charmaine Tedford

Charmaine is the mother of two girls, 7 & 9. Her husband, Sgt. Darcy Tedford was deployed to Afghanistan in the fall of 2006. Ten days after returning from leave, Sgt. Tedford was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade in a surprise attack outside of Kandahar. She has learned how to cope by leaning on the other six widows who came together that winter for support.