Wo Ai Ni Mommy
I first talked about this show here, and now it is finally going to air on PBS. I’ve got my DVR set to tape it.
Starting tomorrow, it looks like you’ll be able to view it online as well.
Here is a trailer, followed by a video of Faith’s mother, followed by a rather lengthy video of the producer talking. I urge you to listen to the entire eight plus minutes of the final video, and listen to some of the reasons the producer wanted to do this documentary.
Have tissue handy for the trailer (top video), but you can probably watch the second two videos shown here without crying.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:46 am
We are excited about watching this documentary. We were in China at the time this was filmed and staying at the White Swan Hotel. Stephanie is from our home town and we met and talked to her there. Please inform your friends and family about the showing of this film tonight at 10 p.m. on PBS. Good Luck to Stephanie!
August 31st, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I cant wait to see this for some reason it is not comming to the NE area until Sept 10 , i will have to watch it on my dinky little computer instead bacause i cannot wait that long.Im curious to preview it and decide if i will allow my 6yr to watch it, anyone else letting their kiddos
watch it?
Caroline
August 31st, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I cannot seem to find it in the Los Angeles area for today.
August 31st, 2010 at 3:39 pm
I agree, we did an older child adoption, and it was a breeze, and we have had no problems at all. It is amazing actually, because I was expecting the worse. I agree, we are very open about his adoption, we talk about it, and the reasons why we wanted him to be part of our family, and the reasons why his parents couldn’t take care of him.
He was well prepared by his SWI about his adoption, and he was absolutely not scared or hesitant coming to us. We are extremely lucky, and he has been part of our family now for 4 1/2 years. It just keeps getting better. I think, we need more positive older adoption stories. I don’t think this show is on my PBS station.
August 31st, 2010 at 4:35 pm
You have to look under the title POV, I am also in LA and found many showings on their site. I am also excited to see it is part of 3 adoption films deputing this month on PBS. Just look for the program title POV on the schedule.
August 31st, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Hi Caroline3636-i am from the boston area and I think channel 44 will have it on Thursday night Sept 2nd at ten pm..You can google pbs for there program schedule.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:50 pm
It’s not coming on tonight here, either – I had thought that was a rarity, apparently not. I’ve got it DVR’d because the first time it comes on is not a time I’ll be able to watch it.
If you go to the PBS link that I linked to in the blog entry there is a link from there that lets you put in your zip code and it will tell you when it will play on your stations.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Looking forward to viewing this tonight (and hopefully chatting about it here tomorrow.)
August 31st, 2010 at 8:54 pm
I can’t get to it either. My says my country has blocked it.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Thanks Peterk, our channel 44 is cnbc agh!!! and our local pbs isnt showing it till sept 10th im sooo bumed, WGBH is supposed to play it sept 2 at 9pm but instead our local channel is play harp music?????
eh,id rather be washing floors !!
Caroline
August 31st, 2010 at 10:37 pm
The show is on right now in Oklahoma City. 930pm today Tuesday August 31st. It is also on at 1:30 am thursday morning. On channel 14.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Just watched it here in the Southeast. It was very hard for me to watch as we just brought home our 10YO son in July. He still grieves very hard at times, so this is all so fresh for him and for us.
I also did not agree with some of the Mom’s parenting style in China with the bent on learning English but to each his own. :)
It is well worth your time and do have some tissues handy.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:28 am
Holy Cow! What a documentary. I was bawling throughout most of it. The initial transition was heart wrenching, but there were also some great moments of joy.
So worth staying up for.
M2I
http://www.MyChineseShamrock.blogspot.com
September 1st, 2010 at 4:28 am
hey Mamman. I’m european. I can’t find a place to watch the documentary yet, I’m trying. But I found the trailer at youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rtiOsbbzCE
hope it works for you
September 1st, 2010 at 4:28 am
P.S: I really want to see that but when I go to their website to watch it online (the documentary) It says I can’t watch it from where I live. If someone could help I would appreciate it. I can’t watch all the interviews there but not the documentary itself. It’s annoying
September 1st, 2010 at 6:51 am
AAAGGGHHH!!! I want to see it too!!! Says it’s blocked in my (European) country wherever I go! If anyone in Europe finds a way to look at the trailer at least, please tell me how!
September 1st, 2010 at 8:39 am
What I would have given to have someone right there to translate what our 5 year old from Ethiopia was saying during her horrible tantrums.
It was actually really hard for me to watch this! It was wonderful to see the child’s perspective, but difficult to see what we are asking of these kids when they first enter our families. We are so in a hurry to assimilate them that is may actually be causing more harm(I also am guilty of this).
Having adopted a school aged child, this really was very hard to watch and wish we had done things a little differently….the struggles this little girl went through to become Americanized so quickly! Again I am guilty of asking the same of our daughter, although we never did flash cards : )
No judgement, just interesting to see our own mistakes we made with or daughter!
September 1st, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Saw the trailer and then read a blog
http://peachneitherherenorthere.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-far-shes-comereally.html
with this person’s opinion of the film. Based on this person’s observations, viewing it might make me sick, but it will surely be a good reminder to be diligent about adapting to our child rather than forcing her to adapt to us.
September 1st, 2010 at 4:35 pm
I was fortunate enough to have attended the premier of this program at the Asian Film Festival several months ago here in San Francisco. Afterward, there was a Q&A session with the mom and Stephanie, which was wonderful.
As I watched the film, I, too, tought the mom was being too forceful about teaching Faith English, but when this came up during the Q&A session, the mom said that she felt like she had to help Faith with English as much as possible so she would have something, anything, at all, that would be a little familiar in the U.S. Until I heard this, I kept thinking to myself, “How can the child memorize the word bagel when she doesn’t have a clue what it is?” and, “Come on already, play with the child!”
The other big deal that came up had to do with the book scene in the parking lot. Faith said that she couldn’t carry her books because of her hand disability, but this wasn’t true. Faith was perfectly capable of carrying her books, but was very put out about having to face homework, so she made a stink about it.
The scene in the hotel where Faith can’t understand why a white woman would want a Chinese daughter really struck me because I don’t think anything could have been said to help Faith understand it. As with most orphaned kids, I think they build a fantasy up of what having a mom would be like and having this American woman show up and suddenly claim to be Faith’s mom must have been a shock on several levels.
My heart was really wrenched when Faith was crying at home for China and really sobbing and grieving. It’s easy for me to imagine what I would have done, how I would have handled it, but I truly have to remember that I’m not Faith’s mom and I really don’t know her and Faith’s mom does love her and did what she thought best based on what she knows of Faith’s personality and her own.
September 1st, 2010 at 6:26 pm
I watched it last night, and it really hit me hard as to how internationally adopted children are forced to adapt so quickly, and in many cases stripped of the only identity they know and forced to form a new identity.
I was quite appaled by the insensitivity of the mother drilling her daughter with flashcards of English words for American foods while in China. The girl was obviously stressed, grieving, and about to be torn from the only life she had known for 8 years. It was hard to watch the mother get annoyed and impatient with her daughter for not wanting to do it and not remembering a word.
Overall, it told an important story of the transitions involved in an older child adoption. I enjoyed it in spite of questioning a lot of the parenting decisions I saw.
September 1st, 2010 at 8:38 pm
I agree with “mommy”. Although I am not in this situation yet, we will be bringing home our 3 year old daughter in November. I really had a tough time watching this mother and would definitely handle things diferently. In my opinion, she will pick up English… lets just take the time to play with and enjoy our newest additions!