Timothy Green Question

I'm not sure...it's been a while since I've watched it. I loved the movie though. I watched it with my 9yo & 7yo. I remember at one point my DD said "Hey! They're fosters too!"

I *love* that movie. I take it as had his situation have been different, if he were "real" (and I *hate* that word) then he would have been a normal little boy. Similar to foster kids, you know? Had their home lives of been different, they wouldn't have the same issues, but shouldn't they be treated the same as any other kid?

I think she meant that though he grew from a tree she was going to treat him normally. I think it was more to explain how they justified the whole tree thing. Almost a brush off comment to explain to the audience who at that point was like "whaaaat."

Because no one else wanted to treat him like a "real" kid. The grandfather acted as if he were scum, everybody looked at him weird because he acted differently (as many of our foster kids do). I don't think is even has anything to do with him being "from a tree" because most people didn't know that any way. I think it had to do with that they were from a small town, infertile and they were familiar with the looks and the questions about having their own "real" child. Timothy introduced not only them, but the community, to the adopted/foster child, that they are "real" even if they are different or from somewhere else and that even the "older" kids are worth it.

Sorry but I'm giggling here. I saw the movie and know he came from a tree, but it's just the way you guys wrote it(''he came from a tree'') that tickles me, lol.

I've avoided that movie even though it has been on Netflix for a while... I want to see it...but I have no doubt it is sad. And the infertility and desperately wanting *our* child to make it too us... IDK- might be too much for me! I like to escape reality with movies. Of course...if he came from a tree...maybe I would still be escaping reality a bit. :)

I'll have to watch it. I also want to see the new foster care tv show.

He actually came from the garden - from a box of wishes they planted basically. But it was fun to say "he came from a tree" :) While it isn't reality - the emotions are definitely real.

I find your responses to be fascinating. I have toyed around with the idea that the parents made a mistake by trying to pretend the boy didn't have leaves growing out of his legs. That by acting like he was just like everyone else, he really would be. Problem was that he wasn't just like everyone else. He appeared out of the blue one night, and had leaves growing out of his legs. The parents were shocked at the end of the movie, because they hadn't allowed open communication to occur about the child's origins. I actually take away from this movie the thought that we have to give our fk's a chance just like every other kid, but we can't just pretend they are like any other kid. They didn't start out with us. They have a history that has to be acknowledged, and sorted through, lest we be crushed in the end. Crazy, right?

Interesting preacherjt. I think that is something valuable to take away from the movie too! They were afraid to let him be who he was because they didn't want others to look down on him, but when he finally was allowed to be who he was, he was able to touch a lot more lives...he was also able to teach them a lot more about themselves. But in the end he disappears, whereas our kiddos don't, and our kiddos have to learn how to function in our society and world...even if they did start out in a different place or family...

I agree... Going to MM's kinder program was such a mixed bag of emotions! He had only been actually placed in our home for one week, yet we were at the culmination of that first year that mommies cry about...the moment when all of those families were remembering their children as newborns and saying "Wow, time has flown by!"...and MM did not have that. Because, the folks who belonged there...the ones who shared the last five years of his life, were not there...he was left scanning the crowd for familiar faces and had to settle for the faces of his "new" family whom he has not known more than two months now. The relief on his face was palpable...at least there was *someone* there for him. But, to pretend we were "celebrating" like all the other families...or that it wasn't different for him would be a huge disservice(IMHO). There is NO way around that reality...it was sad. I was sad. I didn't want him to feel different from the other kids, I wanted him to be celebrated the way he *deserves* to be celebrated...and yet, we are not the keepers of his story, yet...we are not equipped to celebrate him the way that he would be if the people who made up his first five years had been there. I have struggled with what I have come to refer to as "wanting life to take it back "...but, it isn't going to work that way for him this side of Heaven..and however much I want to spare him his reality, i can't do that...and if I were to swing the other way and try to pretend that he never had any other reality...that would not honor his life, either. It is, what it is. His journey is a legitimate story. No way around it. And, I agree...while they did want to protect him...they were not letting him live his life authentically. If we tried to just pretend we are a "happy family" now with no other reality behind all of this...we would be doing the same. Instead, I feel our job is to walk beside him on his journey here and love him through it...do all we can to teach him how to process it... Not try to shield him from it...or pretend it didn't happen.

Same here! I've avoided that movie too because of infertility. It's been hard to re-watch movies I once loved (Juno--another Jennifer Garner film and UP). Based on my changing the channel every time a preview for Timothy Green came on, I don't think it's a movie for me, LOL.