Sometimes when Christians move to serve the Lord overseas, they bring children or have children in that foreign country. This inherently creates a complicated sense of home for these children. They may be from their passport country, but that’s not the community they grew up in. These complications create third culture kids, who feel at home everywhere and nowhere at the same time. So how exactly do TCKs process their unique life experience and how should parents respond to their children who face such complicated emotions? Being a TCK allows for a childhood full of diverse cultures that provide an informed perspective on life. Kids who grow up around different cultures gain a better view of how the world works. For example, a kid could grow up in rural Africa but also visit their home city in America. In Africa, they might witness extreme poverty or detrimental medical issues like malaria. While in America, they might observe debates on racial injustices or detrimental uses of nonrenewable energy. The combined experience from both places during childhood often causes a kid to develop deep empathy for more than just one culture. They understand the difficulties and the beauties of many countries, which enables them to appreciate and care for the world in a knowledgeable way. Additionally, this understanding can train them to become leaders in a world that needs leaders with compassion and strength.
Life as a TCK also gives kids experiences that enable them to go through their life with courage and determination in times of change. TCKs generally travel often between different countries and endure many hours of traveling. Traveling internationally can create many complications that sometimes result in long nights in airports and absolute exhaustion. Yet, TCKs tend to accept this as normal since they experience these traveling conditions so young. Exploring new countries allows TCKs to embrace allow them to embrace exciting cultures with new foods, traditions, and languages. Experiencing new countries – and all the inconveniences that come with it – develops a tolerance to hardship all while enjoying an adventurous lifestyle.
However, this much travel comes with a ridiculous number of hard goodbyes and complicated relationships. Oftentimes, missionaries go on stateside, which means they take a break from living overseas and go back to America (or a different passport country). TCKs occasionally have to leave their community behind for months, years, or even forever. This makes growing roots all the more difficult for TCKs, who often find themselves planted in multiple places miles away from one another. Their passport country, their host country, and other countries they have frequently visited are all candidates for the title of “home.”All the traveling, goodbyes, and living in many contrasting communities creates a feeling of “being home everywhere and nowhere” all at once and can make TCKs feel very confused or alone.
Missionaries who choose to raise children overseas have to consider the complicated feelings their children might face. When raising a TCK, parents must consider that although their child might enjoy the excitement of travel at times, they will face periods where they feel very lost or lonely. TCKs often feel like they do not really belong anywhere and this insecurity as a child can become difficult to handle. One way to help a child with these feelings is by connecting with TCKs for them to relate to. Interacting with other children who also feel confused about their place in the world can help TCKs feel more normal and stable. Additionally, parents of TCKs should simply listen to the emotions the kids are processing. Although growing up as a TCK has special highs and unique lows, many children can learn to embrace their exceptional childhood with love and support from their family, community, and other TCKs.
Works Cited:
Pieh Jones, Rachel. “Painting Pictures: Passport to the World: Rachel Pieh Jones.” Rachel Pieh Jones | Life at the Crossroads of Faith and Culture, 17 July 2013, https://rachelpiehjones.com/2013/07/painting-pictures-passport-to-the-world/.