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Today's TCKs are tomorrow's confident adults
May 29, 2013, Wednesday
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GROWING up, I lived in six different countries (some twice) by the time I was 18, due to my father's job. I am now living in Shanghai and feel very lucky to be bringing up my own third culture kids - "TCKs."
As a child, I had no idea that my lifestyle was uncommon, because all of the other students at the international schools I attended were leading lives similar to mine. It was only when I went to boarding school, at the age of 12, and then on to university, that I began to realize that my childhood had been quite different.
From my own personal experience, I feel that being a TCK means that we tend to have very few preconceptions, and we are more open-minded and forgiving as adults. Since we have lived in more than one country and been exposed to the wonders of diverse cultures from a young age, differences among people and places are simply facts of life that are to be expected. It seems entirely normal to us that people from other countries might think and do things differently, so we are often able to be more patient and understanding in situations that others may find frustrating.
I also believe that adult third culture kids - ATCKs - tend to be better able to deal with change, because change was sometimes the only constant in our lives growing up. We had no choice but to learn to cope with changing schools, making new friends and familiarizing ourselves with a new country, city, language, food and culture on a regular basis. This gives us a knack for adapting to new situations relatively quickly, and an ability to initiate friendships comparatively easily.
In my opinion, TCKs tend to develop into more self-confident adults. After all, if we can survive all the changes our TCK childhoods challenged us with, then we can deal with anything life throws our way as adults!
Thus, I feel very lucky to be bringing up my own boys as TCKs - what better gifts could I give them than patience, understanding, adaptability, affability and self-confidence?
As a child, I had no idea that my lifestyle was uncommon, because all of the other students at the international schools I attended were leading lives similar to mine. It was only when I went to boarding school, at the age of 12, and then on to university, that I began to realize that my childhood had been quite different.
From my own personal experience, I feel that being a TCK means that we tend to have very few preconceptions, and we are more open-minded and forgiving as adults. Since we have lived in more than one country and been exposed to the wonders of diverse cultures from a young age, differences among people and places are simply facts of life that are to be expected. It seems entirely normal to us that people from other countries might think and do things differently, so we are often able to be more patient and understanding in situations that others may find frustrating.
I also believe that adult third culture kids - ATCKs - tend to be better able to deal with change, because change was sometimes the only constant in our lives growing up. We had no choice but to learn to cope with changing schools, making new friends and familiarizing ourselves with a new country, city, language, food and culture on a regular basis. This gives us a knack for adapting to new situations relatively quickly, and an ability to initiate friendships comparatively easily.
In my opinion, TCKs tend to develop into more self-confident adults. After all, if we can survive all the changes our TCK childhoods challenged us with, then we can deal with anything life throws our way as adults!
Thus, I feel very lucky to be bringing up my own boys as TCKs - what better gifts could I give them than patience, understanding, adaptability, affability and self-confidence?
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