A TCK Definition

If you're like me, at some point you couldn't remember what this term 'third culture kid' meant or you've wondered where it came from. In the 1950's, Drs. John and Ruth Hill Useem started using the term after studying expatriates in India. If you count the culture you grew up in as the first culture and then the culture you go to as the '2nd culture' you somehow arrive at the 'third culture'. This third culture is made up of the characteristics and patterns that come about when expatriates live together--kind of a mush of traditions and survival techniques. The catch is that you somehow take on these characteristics and they are recognizable even when you don't live together with other expats. Sooooo . . . a Third Culture Kid--TCK has spent a good chunk of the years between birth and 18 living in a culture other than that of his parents and he can relate to both cultures (possibly several cultures) but doesn't really own any--therefore the TCK tends to find the best sense of connection and grounding with others who have also grown up in a culturally nomadic lifestyle. That's my mom style definition--or you can read the 17 pages in chapter 2 of Third Culture Kids, by Pollock
:)

Hours in a Plane

How many hours of my life have I spent in a plane? This was the question our daughter presented at the evening meal a couple of weeks ago. It seems that in a science lesson they had been set the task of figuring out how much radiation they had received in their lifetime. One of the questions was how many hours on average had you spent on a plane each year. When our daughters answer was around the 10 hours per year average it was suddenly evident that there was something different about her!

In my experience of adjusting to cultures there are definitely times when I don't want to stand out. But often these times bring me face to face with the realities that my life is different I've now lived 20 years away from my home culture. One impact of this I've just learned is above average radiation exposure to my children!! And for our daughter this was an exercise that showed her that she was in a category all of her own. I'm sure some of her classmates have never been on a plane.

The Start

The idea for this blog has been in my head and heart for some time now. Thank you to those of you who have encouraged me and appologies to those same people for it taking so long. But today is the day it starts.

This idea of a blog page for parents who are raising their kids in a different culture than they grew up in will only work if there are several contributers and courageous parents willing to make comments and share struggles.

Some of the delay in starting has been from my fear of the technical challenges. How will I make links? How do I put in a book list? Can I add documents? What pictures do I put on a page like this? How do I add a counter? Should it be a closed or open blog? How do I get the news out? If you have answers to any of these questions, please contact me.

lets get going!