MK Ruth van Reken (a co-author of Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds) is quoted throughout the article.
Robin Pascoe, a Canadian author and wife of a diplomat observes:
If a parent raises two children overseas, one will typically replicate the lifestyle as an adult, while the other will want to stay put and never move again.
Comment here and share your experiences. Are you still a nomad -- either physically moving or in other ways? Are your siblings? Are your children?
9 comments:
Out of 3 kids, 1 of us ended up back overseas - my brother. I think my sister and I went through periods of thinking about it, but decided on settling in the US.
How uncannily correct in my family's case! My younger sister ended up wanting to stay put in England from a young age, where she still is to this day (even though she grumbles about it!)
I, on the other hand, still have that itch to move around and explore new places / cultures.
Right now I live in MN, USA.
P.S. We were Military Bratsd who became Dips...
I am surely a nomad. I just passed the U.S. Foreign Service exams, so I'm poised to continue my global wanderings! My younger brother is in the Navy which has him moving a little bit, but we have yet to see if he will seek out the nomadic life after his initial commitment is through...
A *very* informal survey seems to reveal that older siblings are the nomadic ones. I wonder...
My younger sister and I, both tcks, are dying to live overseas again! We are trying and trying to put ourselves back in the same lifestyle we grew up in. On the other hand, we have siblings who grew up mainly overseas, and now have no interest moving back overseas. For me personally, there is no choice....I want my life back! I feel like everything is else is temporary.
Excellent article!
my younger brother is a pilot, but he has a mortgage and wife, so has managed to combine a bit of both. i start to develop roots, panic, uproot them and relocate, then wish i was back in my little plant pot.
Out of 3 kids, one won't move ever again. Even had to have a major carreer change as he did not want to be away from home...he adopted his wife's hometown and never speaks of the "past". The other one has been living in the same place for the last 15 years but he is still restless and does not feel at home where he is. He wants to go to Brazil although he has never been there as he identifies with capoeristas. As for me, I am living in 2 countries (2 continents) at the moment, hoping to choose either one or a third country within the next few months. I put the roots where I am. Out of the three, I am the one who has learnt to embrace my "uniqueness". My mother (ATCK)is still!! struggling with her own identity issues but she is the traveller in her family(lives in 2 countries as well(see the pattern?)and her brother decided never to move again.
In my family of four, big sis is living in the US, and probably will for a long while at least (married with two kids); I (the second) am wandering (spent a year after graduation in the States and then moved to the Caribbean. Would love to go back to Europe where I studied abroad in college or Latin America where I spent most of my formative years). The youngest two are still in school and thus with mom and dad.
It might. My great-grandparents lived overseas, then my grandparents lived in three different countries, moving frequently. My parents followed. Both my father's parents and my mother parents were nomads, actually. Then my husband and I are on our fourth country since marriage. Living here now for four years seems unusual and long for us.
But my brother settled in one place and resisted moving. His job made him move recently, but it was a major stress. My sister is settled in one place, but travels often if she can.
Interesting thoughts. My kids are already talking about where they want to live when they grow up - here for awhile, and then maybe there....
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