The 10 biggest struggles for a third culture kid

[BlueMTexpat]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/education-and-family/the-10-biggest-struggles-for-a-third-culture-kid/

This article is from February, but may still be meaningful to those Americans Abroad with families who are attempting to raise them in a third - or more - cultures. I know many such. The upsides are undeniable. But there are also some downsides.

As a ‘third culture kid,’ you live a particularly interesting life growing up abroad in a culture different to that of your parents. This experience is often very difficult to explain to those who haven’t been in your situation.

I’m half French and half English, and grew up in Thailand. My father is from Kent, and working in the engineering industry he was assigned to various countries around the world as an expatriate.

My mother is French, although she is of Spanish descent, and I was born in Singapore where Dad was on assignment, before moving to France for a year and then to Thailand where I lived until I finished school. My family still lives there.

Thanks to my upbringing, I find that meeting other international kids - and joining expat networks like InterNations - feels like reuniting with long-lost friends. You realise that you’re not alone and that they, too, identify with the following 10 things which I believe are the biggest struggles for a third culture kid:

Internations https://www.internations.org/

TCKs http://tckid.com/what-is-a-tck.html and http://www.tckworld.com/