You Know Your Child Is A TCK When.....

It's now less than a month until we have to say a final farewell to our home of nine years here in Russia and head on back to England. The last few weeks have been filled with sadness and stress, but also we've sensed God's peace and people's prayers throughout it all.

I can't help wondering, of course, what it'll be like to assimilate back into British culture, and especially how my children are going to cope with that. For those of you who live overseas you may be familiar with the term 'TCK' or 'Third Culture Kid'. For those of you who are asking: "What are TCKs?", let me explain:


Our children don't belong to their parents' culture (since they've lived overseas nearly all their life) and they don't belong to local Russian culture either (because they're clearly foreigners who don't speak the language fluently). Instead, they belong to their own 'third culture', which only their siblings and other TCKs can fully understand and appreciate.

I thought, after the heaviness of the last few posts, that it was time to have a more light-hearted one, so here goes some funny (well, at least I think they're amusing!) reflections on the life of a TCK:

You know your child is a TCK when....

.... they've been on 17 flights before they're even born (Sophie)

.....their first steps are taken not in the family home but in an airport (Charis, in Berlin, on our way to Moscow)

...... their first proper sentence contains the words 'skype' and 'Grandma' (Nathaniel)

.....they list as their top three favourite foods 1) smetana 2) khitchini and 3) grusha

.....they can't understand why, when you're visiting your home country, you can't 'pause' the TV to allow them to go to the toilet (because they only ever watch English language TV on DVDs)

..... they return to your home country and are shocked to find that the children around them are speaking English.

...... they automatically kick off their shoes when entering people's houses in England

...... they're amazed to see dogs living inside people's houses and not outside in the yard

...... they know the Russian term for 'Hide and Seek' but can't think what it is in English

...... they have no idea who Justin Bieber is, but they're quite happy, thanks to your husband's influence (!), singing songs by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion.

Qu: Are your children TCKs? If so, please add some more funny observations in the comments below!

Abide in Him!


Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net / digitalart