Parent C
hronicles
RESOURCES, TOOLS, AND COMMUNITY FOR PARENTS OF THIRD CULTURE KIDS
(So you can be confident you're not screwing them up!)
Think back to your group of friends in college. Everyone might have come from different backgrounds, but they were all part of the campus family. How is it possible for people with such diverse backgrounds be part of the same culture?
Now, consider your kids. They share these things (and more!) with other TCKs:
All TCKs are raised cross-culturally, interacting with and being influenced by both their passport and host cultures regularly. Most TCKs wake up and go about their days in their host countries, returning home in the evenings to their passport cultures. This is the everyday cross-cultural experience for TCKs. Plus, they experience both when traveling back and forth between countries for home and field assignments. These different pieces of life experiences result in a rich and complicated cultural identity for TCKs.
TCKs’ lives are highly mobile, causing them to go through many major life changes. Whether they or the people they know are coming or going, the world around them is constantly changing and shifting, just like a kaleidoscope. This is often a beautiful yet difficult reality for TCKs.
“Where are you from” can be the hardest question for TCKs to answer. Most, if not all, struggle with this question because while they have come from more than one place, they do not feel full ownership over any of them. Kaleidoscope works with TCKs to explore the concepts of belonging and home. Look out for a special chronicle covering this topic!
Now, you may be thinking, what about my teenaged TCKs? Don’t you worry! Next month we have an activity just for your teens!
LISTEN
Episode 23: Growing Up in a Mix of Cultures with Jessi Vance
Join Jessi Vance, Kaleidoscope’s CEO and founder, as she chats with the Taking Route podcast to discuss her experience as a TCK and what it’s like to grow up between cultures.